• Hasbro plans gender-neutral Easy-Bake Oven

    Courtesy Change.org

    McKenna Pope prepares to enter Hasbro headquarters holding a box containing some of the 44,000 electronically signed petitions.

    By Ben Popken, TODAY contributor

    Hasbro plans to unveil a new black-and-silver Easy-Bake Oven in February, following an online petition urging the toy company to market the product in a way that appeals to both boys and girls.

    Hasbro, which said it already had the new color scheme in the works, on Monday invited 13-year-old McKenna Pope of Garfield, N.J., and her family to check out the new design at the company's Pawtucket, R.I., headquarters. Pope's Change.org petition, asking Hasbro to make an Easy-Bake Oven in colors other than the "gender-role specific" pink and purple and to feature boys on the packaging and in its marketing materials, garnered 44,000-plus signatures, including celebrity chefs. She started the petition after noticing her 4-year-old brother Gavyn Boscio's interest in cooking. When she went to shop for an Easy-Bake Oven for him, she was bothered that the design and box seemed to focus solely on girls.

    "I feel that this sends a clear message: women cook, men work," Pope wrote in her petition description.

     

    Courtesy Change.org

    McKenna Pope, right, with her mother, Erica Boscio, and (from left) brothers Gavyn and Matthew at Hasbro headquarters in Pawtucket, R.I.

     

    "We value input from our consumers and given the widespread interest in McKenna Pope’s story, we extended an invitation to McKenna and her family to visit Hasbro and meet with our EASY-BAKE team," Hasbro's vice president of global brands and publicity, Julie Duffy, told TODAY. During the visit, Duffy said Hasbro showed Pope and her family the new black-and-silver Easy-Bake Oven design the company has had in development for the past 18 months. The design is set to be revealed for the first time at the New York Toy Fair in February 2013.

    When asked whether Hasbro would feature boys in the marketing for the toy, Duffy told TODAY that all of the 2013 marketing plans for all its brands are still in development.

    Pope told the Associated Press that her younger brother pronounced the new design "awesome." She could not be reached directly for comment, as she in school.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Teenager McKenna Pope's YouTube video in which she and her little brother ask Hasbro to make a gender-neutral Easy-Bake Oven.

  • Male chefs: Easy Bake Ovens aren't just for girls

    Hasbro

    Should the Easy Bake Oven be a gender-neutral toy? Chefs say yes!

    By Krista Simmons, TODAY contributor

    A New Jersey girl who started a campaign to make a more gender-neutral Easy Bake Oven has cooked up support from big name chefs around the country. The likes of “Top Chef” judge Hugh Acheson and  Joshua Whigham, a former “Chopped” contestant and Los Angeles chef,  have taken to social media to comment on the cause. And the toy-maker has taken note: It was announced today that Hasbro will invite 13-year-old McKenna Pope to their offices to discuss how to make a gender-neutral design a reality.

    Story: Teen: Boys want an Easy-Bake Oven, too

    Julio Cortez/AP

    McKenna Pope, 13, right, and her brother Gavyn Boscio, 4, pose for a photo at their home in Garfield, N.J. on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012.

    Pope launched the petition on Change.org after searching for a present for her 4-year-old brother, who had become noticeably interested in cooking. When she went to the toy stores, Pope was turned off that the oven was specifically designed for girls -- only being offered in the colors purple and pink.

    She's not alone in those sentiments. The petition has since received over 40,000 signatures, and in a recently launched YouTube video, Whigham teamed up with fellow big-name chefs like Laurent Tourondel and Michael Lomonaco to voice support for Pope's efforts as well as encouraging boys to get their bake on. Whigham suggests asking the folks at Hasbro for something like stainless steel or black might help neutralize the toy. Even if it goes back to its former red, black and yellow colors, perhaps then baking won't just be viewed as a game for girls, as many of industry members recall from their childhood.

    But chef Hugh Acheson tweeted that the color of the Easy Bake really shouldn’t matter:

    Twitter

    Chef Art Smith vividly remembers the response his Southern father gave him when he asked for an Easy Bake: “He said, 'Son, it's too girly.' So I got a Tonka truck instead,” he told TODAY.com. But that didn't stop him. One day he convinced a girlfriend to let him bake with her. “We made a chewing gum cake. Well, it smoked up the house and got taken away.”

    New York pastry chef and head judge of “Top Chef: Just Desserts” Johnny Iuzzini also recalls playing with the Easy Bake as a kid.

    “My friends ribbed me a bit, but they would always try whatever came out,” he said. “There is something very gratifying to mix ingredients together, watch them bake, rise and then be able to consume them – no matter what age you are.”

    Will there be sweet victory for Pope at the end of this? The more inspired young bakers there are in the world, the better, we say.

    Krista Simmons is a Los Angeles-based multimedia journalist. Follow her on Twitter. 

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