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Toy companies have released “woke” versions of classic toys in recent years, drawing criticism from Americans who say the industry is trying to push a narrative with the help of local government and liberal-leaning Wall Street, an expert told Fox News Digital .
On January 1, a new California law went into effect requiring any store in the state that sells childcare supplies or toys and has more than 500 employees to establish a “gender-neutral” toy department or face a $500 fine. Calculate dollars.
Supporters of the law argue it will eliminate gender discrimination and stereotypes about boys and girls, but the move follows conservative boycotts of transgender-related items sold to children that many consider inappropriate.
Consumers' Research released a report on toy companies that criticized Mattel, Hasbro, Build-A-Bear and Fisher Price for promoting “woke” toys to target America's children and “promoting radical transgender ideology normalize”.
Will Hild, managing director of Consumers' Research, told Fox News Digital that “woke toys” are “unfortunately” exactly what he would expect, given how “woke” both Wall Street and governments like it are State of California were pushing far left propaganda.
“In this case, it's an extreme LGBTQ agenda that clearly targets children and basically tries to force a view of gender that I think is both unscientific and unpopular and grotesque,” he said.
For example, the Mattel-owned American Girl Doll brand released its latest version of “A Smart Girl's Guide: Body Image” in 2023, which garnered national attention for its discussion of gender transitions in prepubescent girls.
An example of LGBTQ content aimed at children: American Girl's book “A Smart Girl's Guide: Body Image” explains gender expression and defines cisgender and non-binary.
American Girl's book “A Smart Girl's Guide: Body Image” addresses “body dysmorphia” and encourages young girls to see a doctor if they feel uncomfortable about their gender.
American Girl's book “A Smart Girl's Guide: Body Image” compares the civil rights movement to the push by transgender and non-binary people to use restrooms they feel comfortable in.
“While gender expression is what you show on the outside, gender identity is what you feel on the inside – a girl, a boy, or someone who doesn't fit into either category,” the book says.
“Parts of your body may make you feel uncomfortable and you may want to change the way you look,” the book says at one point. “This is completely right!”
“You can appreciate your body for everything it allows you to experience and still want to change certain things about it,” another site adds. “If you haven't gone through puberty yet, the doctor may offer you medication to delay your body's changes so you have more time to think about your gender identity.”
Mattel also owns Barbie, which has released a transgender doll modeled after Laverne Cox who has long hair and wears a ball gown, as well as the “Creatable World” collection of customizable dolls, which encourages children to create their own characters free of gender norms to create.
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“It's a fashion doll, but it's a gender-neutral body and a kit that includes about 14 accessories, clothes, shoes and a long wig,” Kim Culmone, senior vice president of Mattel Fashion Doll Design, told Forbes. “The doll itself has short hair, so the kids can put all of these elements together and build a doll and then put it all back together.”
“It's about six kits, different ethnicities and all different accessories and clothing that they can put together in whatever expression they want and whatever character they want to build,” she continued. “The target age for the product is five to eight years old and the doll itself is prepubescent. So it is a body and an expression that is not a realistic representation, but a stylized interpretation of an adolescent child.”
Laverne Cox at a star-studded night out at Barker Hanger in Santa Monica. (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
Fisher Price released dolls of famous drag queen RuPaul, marketed “for fans ages 1 to 101,” according to the packaging, as seen on Amazon.
Build-A-Bear also released a RuPaul teddy bear as a “homage to the world's most famous drag queen,” which is no longer featured on the brand's website. The New York Post described the original product description on the Build-A-Bear website as: “Two iconic pop culture institutions join forces for this one-of-a-kind collectible created as a tribute to the world's most famous drag queen.”
Hild said it's clear to him that these types of toys are “100% about pushing a narrative,” pointing out that if that wasn't the case, he believes there wouldn't be a need for anything to be required by law, as is the case in California Done.
“It's not that there isn't enough competition in the children's toy market, there are hundreds of thousands of different toys in the world, there's a great market for them,” he said. “If there was something big enough that people wanted it, it would already be in these stores.”
Hasbro's Mr. Potato Head has been made “gender neutral” in 2021, encouraging children to create gender neutral families with the potato characters.
Former California state senator Melissa Melendez criticized a state law that requires major retail stores to offer a gender-neutral toy department starting in 2024. (Fox & Friends/Screengrab/Fox News)
“The possibilities for creating your own families are endless by mixing and mashing all the bits and pieces,” Hasbro said of renaming the classic toy.
Some photos showed a potato mother with a mustache and a potato father with mascara. Hasbro later clarified that the brand itself would no longer be gender-specific, but the characters themselves would still be.
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Hild added: “Mr Potato Head… You don't have to adopt a political or ideological framework to play with them… They forced you to make a political statement in order to buy a toy that has been around for 40 years.”
Hild said he sees the trend as part of a broader environmental, social and governance (ESG) pattern that has been criticized as an investment philosophy and a way to enforce policy preferences that critics say conflict with an asset manager's duty of loyalty.
“The question is, how can they suddenly incorporate a lot of far-left politics into their investments? As justification for this, they use the statement, 'Well, things like net zero targets will be rolled out by 2050' and 'DEI requirements will be set out in law, so we're just preparing these companies for the inevitable legal requirements,'” said he. “Then governments come and say, 'Look, the market is already doing this, we'll just standardize it or we'll just do it so that either investors or business people have clarity about what's required.'
He explained that in this environment, asset managers and governments claim they are not pushing a social or political narrative, but rather are “arguing among themselves” about who is responsible for “woke” policies.
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“This is a perfect example of that because the state of California is certainly trying to use civil rights law as justification for this,” he said. “They claim, 'Oh, this has to be the same for all kids, non-binary or binary or whatever,' and then, I guarantee, asset managers and companies that are pushing ESG will start asking toy companies, ' Oh well.' “Are you prepared for this coming wave of demands like in California that is spreading across the country? That way they will work together to advance this agenda across the country.”
Hild said there are many people who have no problem with non-binary options, which he said is fine “if they are organic and what people actually want, but if they are forced on them, either from Wall Street players like BlackRock.” . or from the government, they have not only the right but the responsibility, if they care about the free market, to push back and say, 'No, I find this offensive and I want it abolished.'”
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