I find this type of pablum advertising offensive and demeaning. For one, the notion that girls need a special line of toys to become engaged in engineering is ridiculous. They are merely trying to co-opt sincere efforts to engage girls in the sciences through the use of a slick video and superficial bromides. I have been to the site for the product and they have 1 product, 1. Mind you they have scores of links to the various news outlets that have featured them in their reporting. I know the intent of boingboing and other sites is good when linking to this video, the girls are cute the idea is worthwhile, but my daughter and her aspirations are not a commodity. To boot the product looks like it has been dipped in cotton candy and stuffed with pony horse sparkle juice. Are you freaking kidding me? Don’t get me wrong; my daughter loves ballet, and fashion and pandas, just like every other girl her age, but she would look at this piece of garbage and ask me if I was playing a joke on her. The irony of this ad is that the two instances of authentic girl power innovation were home brewed, ie. the ballet slippers nailed to the skateboard and the teddy bear side car. If you want to teach you daughter to love the sciences, go to DIY and let her explore her passions on her own terms, not some corporate shill’s.
