Campaign to get rid of gendered boys' and girls' floors sees toy store group its products by type, not sex, though Hamleys claims the change isn't in response to pressure
Hamleys has responded to criticisms of its “pink floor” for girls and “blue floor” for boys. The famous toy store has changed its signage and reorganised toys by type rather than gender, after a campaign group criticised it for using sexist stereotypes.
Charity worker and blogger Laura Nelson headed the campaign. “In response to the campaign against categorisation of toys by gender and sexist stereotypes, Hamleys has changed its signage,” she said yesterday.
But Hamleys has denied it responded to Laura’s campaign, which has been growing since October. Instead the toy store claims the rearranged toys are to encourage better customer flow.
Laura had written to Hamleys' chief exec and stakeholders, saying, “The layout of the toyshop restricts children’s and parents’ choices and contributes to our society’s inequality.”
According to the campaign, toys on the girls’ floor were focused on “domestic, caring and beauty activities” while the boys’ were “geared to action and war, with little scope for creativity.”
Despite the denial by Hamleys, yesterday Laura tweeted, “Amazing!!! I need to see this with my own eyes – still can’t quite believe it. The campaign worked !!!”
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