Hasbro’s Easy Bake Oven: Pink vs. Blue

In 2012, just before the Christmas holiday season, a 13-year-old girl, McKenna Pope, filed a petition of complaint to Hasbro, a leading North American toy manufacturer. She wanted to end gender stereotypes in children’s toys. Hoping to fulfill her younger brother’s Christmas wish, Pope realized that there was only one pink and purple variant of the Easy Bake Oven available in the market. The oven was viewed as gender specific (only for girls) making boys reluctant to play with it. Even the commercials and the packaging of the toy featured only girls, creating a reluctance among young boys to play with it.

Pope decided to write to Hasbro with the support of an online collaborative platform called change.org. The petition questioned Hasbro’s product planning and created awareness about the firm’s gender based marketing strategies.  Surprisingly, the petition gathered support from not only parents, but also from some of America’s culinary experts who voiced their concerns about creating a divided culture.

Hasbro responded with a personal letter to Pope explaining the reflection of both genders in the oven’s earlier marketing communication.

Meanwhile, the online appeal collected a sufficient number of consumer signatures and was delivered via an email to Hasbro’s top officials. Now, Hasbro faced a challenge of how to communicate a gender neutral approach to its loyal consumers. Further it also struggled to maintain its online reputation, in the light of this new controversy