Dr. Rebecca Hains
Author, professor and speaker | Children's media culture, media literacy, and media criticism
Category: marketing
Barbie is 60. And she’s reinventing herself.
Mattel’s changes to an iconic doll reflect evolving demographics.
Read MorePrincess Leia is a general now. But why isn’t she in more toy stores?
Children’s products still underrepresent heroic women like Leia.
Read MoreWhy boys should play with dolls
No one is surprised about seeing dads with strollers anymore, yet biases with toys persist.
Read MoreTarget will stop labeling toys for boys or girls. Good.
Yes, your daughter can play with blocks, and your son can play with dolls.
Read MoreNYU Bookstore pulls body-shaming “I hate my thighs” onesie hours after complaints begin
Yesterday, NYU employee Jason Y. Evans snapped this photo of an “I hate my thighs” onesie for infant girls in the NYU bookstore. He alerted several student and alumni groups, and they complained to the bookstore. In fewer than eight hours, the…
Read MoreFCKH8’s “F-Bomb Princess” video isn’t offensive—it’s exploitative.
Viral video isn’t about what’s good for girls—it’s about the t-shirt company’s bottom line.
Read MoreWhat’s the problem with pink and princess? The marketing, not the moms.
This week, New York and Slate published pieces asking why so many moms have a problem with pink and with princesses. “What’s the problem with pink, anyway?” griped Yael Kohen in New York. Then, building upon Kohen’s piece, Slate senior editor Allison Benedikt demanded: “What…
Read MoreDisney Princess Lingerie Goes Viral
This weekend, no fewer than a dozen people sent me links to this Jezebel article about Disney Princess lingerie being sold by a Japanese retailer. The images were also all over my facebook feed. Check them out: Although this line…
Read MoreWhat if Woody Wore Pink?
What would you think of Woody from Toy Story if he wore pink? Would you think the color choice was incongruous—that it didn’t seem masculine enough for a 1950s-era cowboy toy? Well, you’d be wrong, as these images from the 1955 Sears Christmas Book catalog attest.
Read MoreAnti-princess marketing and girls’ education: Mercy Academy vs. GoldieBlox
Water, water everywhere, and all the boards did shrink. Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink. Princesses: They’re everywhere. Over the past decade, marketers have made “princess” a synonym for “girls. They use princesses as shorthand—a way of saying,…
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Dr. Rebecca Hains 
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