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Courtesy Hasbro
The Heartbreaker bow, part of the new Nerf Rebelle line, will hit store shelves this fall.
Nerf has long been a favorite of little (and, let’s be honest, not so little) boys. But more girls may soon be getting in on the foam dart-shooting action as Hasbro prepares to launch the Nerf Rebelle, a new product line marketed for girls. First up will be the Heartbreaker bow, which will hit store shelves this fall.
The line promises the same power as items in the Nerf Elite line, but with pretty girly colors and designs. Nerf, however, says the differences between the Rebelle and Elite lines go beyond pink. In an effort to connect with girls and how they play, the Heartbreaker will also come with collectible darts and the line will have an app, which encourages teamwork and strategy and lets girls capture photos and videos of all of the action. The bow is also sized and shaped differently, making it easier for young girls to handle.
“It used to be that people just make pink versions of boys’ products for girls. We found that girls wanted products made just for them,” said John Frascotti, Hasbro's global chief marketing officer. “We didn’t just make a pink version of the boys’ product. We made a product just for them.”
Frascotti also noted that in today’s age of childhood obesity, parents are concerned about the sedentary nature of traditional girls’ play. “We did a lot of research about girls and how they play and looked at what wasn’t in the toy aisle. We found a big white space opportunity for active play for girls. Other than sports, there aren’t a lot of active play opportunities for them,” he said.
Given the popularity of "The Hunger Games" and "Brave," which both feature young heroines who are skilled archers, the Rebelle line may find an eager market. In the lead-up to last summer’s Olympics, many noted the rise in popularity that archery was enjoying, thanks to Katniss and her bow. Industry experts think Nerf might be onto something with the new line. “Girls love Nerf, but most Nerf is sold to boys. This says, ‘OK, you want to play Merida? You want to play 'Hunger Games'? Here’s something just for you’,” said Chris Byrne, toy expert and content director for Time to Play.
The Nerf Rebelle line is the latest toy to get a makeover in order to appeal to a different gender. Recently, Hasbro announced that it would start selling Easy Bake Ovens in a more gender-neutral black-and-silver palette. That move was in response to an online petition started by a 13-year-old girl who wanted an oven that would appeal to her 4-year-old brother. The company was largely applauded for that change. LEGO has also made headlines in recent months for launching LEGO Friends, a new product line targeted toward girls. Although critics accused LEGO of promoting gender stereotypes with Friends, consumers have been scooping the toy up, helping to increase profits for the makers of the little bricks.
And the gender crossover of toys seems to be a continuing trend.
“LEGO basically said, ‘Hey, if you do enough research and development, you, too, can address the 50 percent of the market you are currently missing,’ ” said Gerrick Johnson, toy industry analyst from BMO Capital Markets. “Lead times are long, and things being worked on right now won’t hit shelves until next fall. So I guess we should expect some more introductions later this year and into next.”
Byrne agrees.
“As our cultural notions about what defines gender identity relaxes, we open the door," he said. "There’s a great deal more comfort with a boy playing with an Easy Bake Oven now, and we see that in the redesign of the Easy Bake Oven.”
Frascotti hinted that Hasbro may have more of these gender-crossover products in the works.“There are lots of opportunities to broaden play opportunities that historically have been more gender-specific.”
Dana Macario is a Seattle-area writer.
Leave a Comment:
I'm glad to see the product isn't just pink. That's a pretty cool looking bow!
But it is a little insulting when a company makes a girl version of their product, when you've used it all along, never assuming it wasn't for girls. That's really saying "This was always for boys before. We just realized, after being in business for 50 years, that we should make stuff for girls."
I do applaud the effort to reduce gender stereotypes. I think the Easy Bake Oven is just as fun to use whether it's pink or silver, but boys would be far more interested in using it if it were silver. If they don't want to just change the color to appeal to boys, they should consider what boys might like to bake, which may be different from girls.
"Girl;s that kick Ass" is the new hot trend coming up from the people. Look at Lizbeth Salander for the piototype of girls that kick ass.
Just tell the boys not to shoot their sisters with the pink Heartbreaker bow.
Is it just me or are they missing the point?
Boy toys are cool because they're boy toys, most of which are actually gender neutral. It's the girl toys that are predominantly not gender neutral.
Those damn money-hungry fools at Hasbro are missing the point.
Sorry, "global chief marketing officer" Frascotti, you did make just another pink toy, and the almost-certainly intrusive apps and extra "girly" touches do not help. If you won't listen to Riley, at least listen to Bill.
I agree. Instead of making a pink bow, get more girls on your boxes and in your commercials. I've always assumed Nerf was fairly gender-neutral. Splitting up the toys into gender categories hurts both little girls AND little boys.
My little girls will love this-- they adore the character Merida in "Brave" and I am sure they will have a lot of fun with this toy.
I'd like to see them simply market them without stating they're for girls.
And get rid of the stereotypical pink on everything marketed to girls! Every toy should be gender neutral.
What do you do then for the girls (and boys) who like pink?
Pink is one of my favorite colors, and I find it distressing (and sexist) when I can find the products I want in every other color of the rainbow EXCEPT my favorite because it's "for girls" and therefore "sexist" to have such a color.
mixedpie- Check out the "girl" toy aisle at Target. Not only are all the toys pink- The backing of the WALLS are pink so there is absolutely NO mistaking that this aisle is for girls only. I agree that things should be made in all colors, but we're going to have to get rid of the pink-washing of products for girls if we're going to have any luck making toys gender-neutral. Gendered products limit everyone.
Eve wrote "Every toy should be gender neutral."
Why? Should toys that boys favor be removed from the room? Some radical Feminist preshools in Sweden say so.
Pinkification is a natural social reaction to Feminism. The gender neutralization movement is about increasing choices for women choices while restricting those for men. Perceived discrimination against women is replaced with real discrimination against men, particularly in workplace hiring practices.
Gender neutralization is bad for men and women. Start early. I ensure that every day, my daughter drinks from her favorite pink cup while my son drinks from his blue cup.
My thought exactly. Girls have always played with Nerf; toys don't have to be nauseatingly, endlessly PINK to legitimize girls' play. The same goes for children's clothing, decor, and books--make them interesting, bright, and durable for all children-sans the color-coding.
color-coded discrimination. Great.
leave it to the Feminists to perpetuate hatred of men.
It's not feminists. I guarantee you the marketing yahoos that came up with this stupid idea are not real feminists. They are just trying to make more money. Feminists don't give a damn about color, or glitter. I promise you.
Feminist here, and I really dislike this toy. If Nerf wants to sell to girls, they should include girls in their commercials and on their boxes. They don't have to make everything pink for girls to like it. We don't want everything to be made special for girls. We want girls to not think twice about playing with Nerf or Legos and we want boys to be comfortable playing with Easy Bake Ovens.
"Girls aren't buying our products."
"Let's make them PINK! And possibly add sparkles and ponies."
Can we please stop assigning colors to genders? Not all girls like pink, and there's nothing wrong with just using neutral colors like red, green, blue, purple, and yellow that both boys AND girls can like.
Once we do that, let's start marketing some pink stuff to boys and get rid of the silly presumption that boys don't like it. Pink is only "girly" if you let it be.
I played with these when I was younger. I didn't really distinguish them as "boys toys" like I might have hot wheels or whatever. But can't they just make a wide range of colors for everyone rather than market towards genders specifically? Yeah, throw pink in there, but throw in orange, green, etc. Would that not make more money if that was what you were going after?
FFS. Sorry, I won't be buying this toy at all: not for my Nerf-loving 22 year old daughter, not for my 4 year old granddaughter. They like playing with Nerf, they don't like pink and they certainly don;t want to be forced into a narrow box of sone corporation's gender stereotypes.
A few obeservations and corrections: feminists don't hate men (although they may have good reason to hate wild-P, mainly because the feminists I have known and loved for fifty years generally want to hear reasoned arguments, not whining self-pitying slogans.
Mixed Pie: a suggestion: don;t whine, it doesn't get you anywhere. If you like pink, wear it, use it, play with it! And on the way, get a little empathy for the millions of parents trying to find an alternative colout for girls' clothing, toys, etc. It's ridiculous that we are all are being forced into such narrow colour choices. Oh and the pink-n-purple fashion won;t last much longer, I predict a switch to green/orange or green/yellow, once the market has been saturated with pink/purple.
Historical note: until the 1930s, pink was considered to be a boy's colour, blue was for girls.
FAVORITE POST OF THE DAY!
Thank you! I've been trying to tell people that forever! Pink was considered a more powerful color while blue was considered more "dainty." Oh how things change...
Ruby wrote "Historical note: until the 1930s, pink was considered to be a boy's colour, blue was for girls."
If you look at old photos, all of the children were dressed in black and white.
Feminists don't hate men. They just want to discriminate against men.
Well hell. My daughter hates pink. She already plays with her brother's LEGO's and Nerf toys.
It really just bugs the hell out of me that these companies feel that they need to make it pink to appeal to girls. The LEGO Friends...pathetic.
And for godsake stop putting glitter on all the clothing. I can't find new clothes for her anywhere. Everything has glitter or rhinstones on it. I mean not even a hoodie. It's sad.
Goodness . It looks like a slow day for reporters.