44 Time October 7, 2019
Society
toys and activities traditionally associated with boys,
only 64% endorse steering boys toward toys and ac-
tivities associated with girls.
For years, millennial parents have pushed back
against “pink aisles” and “blue aisles” in toy stores
in favor of gender- neutral sections, often in the name
of exposing girls to the building blocks and chemis-
try kits that foster interest in science and math but
are usually categorized as boys’ toys. Major toy sell-
ers have listened, thanks to the millennial genera-
tion’s unrivaled size, trendsetting ability and buying
power. Target eliminated gender- specific sections
in 2015. The same year, Disney banished boys and
girls labels from its children’s costumes, inviting
girls to dress as Captain America and boys as Belle.
Last year, Mattel did away with boys’ and girls’ toy
divisions in favor of nongendered sections: dolls or
cars, for instance.
But the Creatable World doll is something else
entirely. Unlike model airplanes or volcano kits, dolls
have faces like ours, upon
which we can project our
own self-image and anxieties.
Mattel tested the doll with
250 families across seven
states, including 15 children
who identify as trans, gender-
nonbinary or gender-fluid
and rarely see themselves re-
flected in the media, let alone
their playthings. “There were
a couple of gender- creative
kids who told us that they
dreaded Christmas Day be-
cause they knew whatever
they got under the Christ-
mas tree, it wasn’t made for
them,” says Monica Dreger, head of consumer in-
sights at Mattel. “This is the first doll that you can
find under the tree and see is for them because it can
be for anyone.”
The population of young people who identify as
gender- nonbinary is growing. Though no large sur-
veys have been done of kids younger than 10, a re-
cent study by the Williams Institute at the Univer-
sity of California, Los Angeles, found that 27% of
California teens identify as gender- nonconforming.
And a 2018 Pew study found 35% of Gen Z-ers (born
1995 to 2015) say they personally know someone who
uses gender- neutral pronouns like they and them,
compared with just 16% of Gen X-ers (born 1965 to
1980). The patterns are projected to continue with
Generation Alpha, born in 2010 and later. Those
kids, along with boys who want to play with dolls
and girls who identify as “tomboys” and don’t gravi-
tate toward fashion doll play, are an untapped demo-
graphic. Mattel currently has 19% market share in
the $8 billion doll industry; gaining just 1 more point
could translate into $80 million in revenue for the
company.
Mattel sees an even broader potential for
Creatable World beyond gender- creative kids. In
testing, the company found that Generation Alpha
children chafed at labels and mandates no matter
their gender identity: they didn’t want to be told
whom a toy was designed for or how to play with it.
They were delighted with a doll that had no name and
could transform and adapt according to their whims.
But it’s parents who are making the purchasing
decisions, and no adult is going to have a neutral
reaction to this doll. In testing groups, several par-
ents felt the “gender- neutral” branding of the toy
pushed a political agenda, and some adults objected
to the notion of their sons ever playing with dolls.
Mattel president Richard Dickson insists the doll
isn’t intended as a statement. “We’re not in the busi-
ness of politics,” he says, “and we respect the deci-
sion any parent makes around how they raise their
kids. Our job is to stimulate
imaginations. Our toys are
ultimately canvases for cul-
tural conversation, but it’s
your conversation, not ours;
your opinion, not ours.”
Yet even offering custom-
ers that blank canvas will be
seen as political in a coun-
try where gender- neutral
bathrooms still stir protests.
Mattel joins a cohort of other
companies that have chosen
a side in a divisive political
climate. Just in the past two
years, Nike launched a cam-
paign starring Colin Kaeper-
nick after the NFL dropped him from the league
for kneeling during the national anthem to protest
racism. Airbnb offered free housing to people dis-
placed in the face of President Trump’s travel ban.
Dick’s Sporting Goods stopped selling assault- style
weapons after the Parkland shooting. All these
companies have reported eventual sales bumps
after staking their claim in the culture wars.
When pressed with these examples, Dickson
admits that staying neutral is not an option if you
want to be perceived as an innovator. “I think that
being a company today, you have to have a combina-
tion of social justice along with commerce, and that
balance can be tricky,” Dickson says. “Not everyone
will appreciate you or agree with you.”
In fact, dissent among boomers, Gen X-ers and
even millennials may be a positive sign, according to
Mattel’s own researchers. “If all the parents who saw
the dolls said, ‘This is what we’ve been waiting for,’
we wouldn’t be doing our jobs,” says Dreger. “That
would mean this should have already been in the