A little while back, I wrote a piece about McDonald’s toys and their practice of offering two different toy lines, one for girls and one for boys. The divisions are remarkably rigid, and McDonald’s seems to be going out of its way to make each line as stereotypically male or female as possible. Customers are not asked which toy their child would like by name, but rather if they want the “boy” toy or the “girl” toy. It’s a very insidious set-up all around, and you can read more about it in the first article.
But now McDonald’s has some new superhero toys in their Happy Meals, and I thought it might be good to check them out and see if things have improved. They’re based on the Batman: The Brave and the Bold TV show, and there’s quite an extensive collection:
Let’s run through them, in case you’re not familiar with all of the characters, starting with the top left and going clockwise:
- Batman and the Penguin
- Solomon Grundy, Firestorm, and Two-Face
- Black Manta, Aquaman, and Batman Robot
- Another Batman and the Riddler
- The Spectre and Gentleman Ghost
- Robin, Batman again, and Gorilla Grodd
- Sportsmaster, one more Batman, and the Flash
- Bat-Mite and the Joker
There are twenty different figures (and a few vehicles), and they’re ALL men. Not a single lady in the whole line. No Wonder Woman or Batgirl or Black Canary or Huntress or Zatanna or any of the many other female superheroes who have appeared on the show. No female villains either. Just a lot of dudes. So not only is the line offered just to boys, there are no female characters in the line to break up the male hegemony. Superheroes are only for boys, and only boys can be superheroes… good work, McDonald’s.
Here are the “girl” toys… they are something called Zoobles:
They pop up into cute, big eyed animals like this:
So, pastel colours, hearts, flowers, and cute little animals for little girls to love and care for. They’re super stereotypical AND trying to bring out some maternal instincts. Good lord, McDonald’s.
It seems that the food isn’t the only thing that’s bad for you at McDonald’s. Know what’s the saddest thing about all of this? I could REALLY go for some Chicken McNuggets right now. You’re an evil, evil place, McDonald’s… even when I’m all sorts of irked with you, you get your delicious hooks into me!!
Tags: Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Happy Meal, McDonald's, Zoobles
