Who Gave Tesco the Right to Shape Our Children?

I clearly missed the moment when we decided to appoint supermarkets as the powers that should determine our social norms, but it has become clear recently that this mantle has been assumed by at least one of these marketing giants. My attention was drawn to this when the campaigning organisation Let Toys be Toys discovered that Tesco was advertising its chemistry set as ‘for boys’, while its Hotpoint cooker was labelled ‘for girls.’

We need to stop and think about this for a moment – if it does not shock and outrage us in the 21st century, then it certainly should. Surely we have moved on from any suggestion that chemistry is only for boys (were the struggles of Marie Curie and Rosamund Franklin for nothing?) And as for the kitchen…

Can we imagine a school separating children by gender in this way? There would be outrage, surely? Even Michael Gove would think it was old-fashioned!

What is revealing is Tesco’s defence of their actions. When Let Toys be Toys challenged them about the signs on Twitter, they replied with:

@lettoysbetoys Toy signage is currently based on research and how our customers tell us they like to shop in our stores

— Tesco Customer Care (@UKTesco) May 4, 2013

So, what they are saying is that they have conducted market research and that is what dictates their policy. The fact that any ethical analysis of the situation can only conclude that toys do not need to be defined by gender apparently has no bearing – the market research (in other words, what sells) trumps any social obligations Tesco might be troubled by.

After some outrage on Twitter (helpfully stimulated by Ben Goldacre) the Tesco account went mysteriously quiet. Subsequently they have apologised for ‘causing upset’ (always apologise for upsetting someone, never for being wrong) and have promised to update the chemistry set as being ‘unisex.’ This they have done, while the kitchen remains distinctly ‘for girls.’ The kitchen is pink – shocking pink – is that enough of a reason to label it for girls, or should we question why on earth a kitchen should be pink in the first place? The answer is clear from the description of another kitchen in the same range:

It’s not about pink then…

Since then there has been media attention, and Tesco have apparently stated on Watchdog that they will ‘be conducting a review of the way it categorises its toys.’ Why a review and not just an apology and immediate change? Is it that hard? They have decided to change the chemistry set without requiring a review, but I can only assume that working out how to categorise a ‘Wild physic and chemistry set’ is more complicated, since it remains like this on their website:

Why does this matter so much? And why talk about it on a health blog? Well, I don’t think we should under-estimate the subversive influences on how we shape our children, or the impact that this will have on their subsequent health as adults. Educational attainment is closely linked to health, and being told you can or can’t do something could have an enormous impact on a child. If parents wish to point their boys towards science, and girls to the kitchen, then that is something I may not agree with (my father is a chef, my wife a scientist, so I’m hardly likely to), but neither should I interfere in another’s parenting without very good reason. Tesco, on the other hand, are not parents and should not presume that they have the right to stereotype in this way.

And when it comes to stereotyping, it is not just how we educate our children that matters to health, but how we feed them. It is nearly a year since Tesco assured me that they would remove the direction to ‘Children’s cereals’ from all their stores, after I pointed out the harmful health message implicit in the signs. Well, as for my local store, I am still waiting…I imagine they are busy conducting a review.

Advertisement