Marks & Spencer has agreed to make the packaging of all of its toys gender neutral by spring 2017, after customers complained that it was marketing items according to stereotypes. Customers contacted M&S to complain at a range of toys called "Boy's Stuff", which included planes, cars, dinosaurs, racing cars, cat toys, a marble run and a pop-up fire station. The description on the latter said: "This pop up fire station is perfect for little fire men everywhere", while the description of a watch in the same range read: "The perfect wrist accessory no boy should be without," and a joke book read: "Boys know the best jokes and here are 500 crackers to keep you ahead of the girls." The Boy's Stuff range will be rebranded to use a simple graphic logo, while the "Little Miss Arty" range will become "Poppy and Blue", using character-based branding. M&S told the Guardian it was already in the process of updating its policy but this became public when it responded to a specific criticism on Twitter by Labour MP Stella Creasy. It Tweeted back: "Hi Stella, we've listened to customer feedback and by spring next year all of our toys will be gender neutral. Thanks." |