Deceiving or disrupting the pink aisle? GoldieBlox, corporate narratives, and the gendered toy debate

Abstract

ABSTRACTUsing the coordinated management of meaning theory as a guide, this article examines critiques and commendations of toy company, GoldieBlox Inc.’s, goal of “disrupting the pink aisle.” Notwithstanding capitalistic enterprise, it is argued that GoldieBlox’s corporate narrative engages in an imperative social skill that its toys still lack: critical reflection. Although GoldieBlox’s toys are rudimentary in their science, technology, engineering, and math designs, the company’s corporate narrative—driven by its origin story, mission and vision statements, and marketing strategies—challenges a 100-year-old gendered toy tradition and prompts significant questions of gender representation and improbable beauty ideals in our children’s toys.