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Subject: Marketing

Assignment #1

Submitted to: Sir Adam Mohyuddin

Smubmitted by: Wajeeha Batool

Roll no. 22l-8009

Company Case

GoldieBlox: Swimming Upstream against Consumer Perceptions

1. Of the factors that influence consumer behavior, which category or categories (cultural,

social, personal, or psychological) best explain the existence of a blue toy aisleand a pink

toy aisle? Why?

There are two categories that best explain the existence of blue and pink toy aisles. These

are culture and society. If we see the culture then we know that culture associate’s women and

girls with pink whereas boys are linked with blue. Moreover, social norms are also there and

family member influence perception of male and female. Our society and culture associate pink

with characteristics that are deemed “girly”, like sensitivity. Whereas, blue is considered as

macho and “boyish”. Our culture and society has influenced us to categorized gender with

colour. Psychological factors also influence that pink colour is for girls and blue for boys.
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2. Choose the specific factor (for example, culture, family, occupation, attitudes) that you

think most accounts for the blue/pink toy aisle phenomenon. Explain the challenges faced

by GoldieBlox in attempting to market toys that “swim against the stream” or pushback

against the forces of that factor.

In my opinion, culture mostly accounts for the blue/pink toy aisle phenomenon. In our

society, colours are so strongly associated with gender that we see colour as gender. It is

commonly understood that pink is for girls and blue is for boys. The colours pink and blue are

heavily linked with gender. There are numerous challenges that GoldieBlox will face as a market

toy that will “swim against the stream’’. GoldieBlox is trying to break this trend universally. The

toy has received backlash and criticism from female voices claiming that it is not possible to

“create a toy meant to breakdown stereotypes when you start off with the ideal that we know all

girls love princesses”. The purpose was to criticize specifically a new innovation, a “construction

set based on a new challenge faced by Goldie and her friends – to create a float to transport the

winner of a beauty pageant”. It is also caused a debate whether it is really encouraging girls to

have an interest in STEM subject, because people said that this game is only a window dressing.

3. To what degree is GoldieBlox bucking the blue/pink toy aisle system?

GoldieBlox is bucking the blue/pink toy aisle system to some extent, but not completely.

Instead of completely eradicating all gender bias associated with the color pink, Sterling choose

to merge the ideas into her innovative toy. The toys are still pink and very girly. At the same

time, they have elements of what would traditionally perceived as “manly” and encourage girls

to open their horizons to “building and creating”. The GoldieBlox toys have a number of

different play sets that target to integrate the stereotypical elements of a young girl’s toy by

presenting it as “skinny, blonde, and cute… favoring pink and purple”, while integrating ideas of
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STEM and “raising awareness about the lack of women in technical and scientific fields”. “The

toys and stories feature animals and ribbons, and characters are more likely to help others than to

succeed on their own”.

4. If GoldieBlox succeeds at selling lots of its toys, will that accomplish the mission of

increasing the presence of females in the field of engineering?

There is no 100 percent guarantee that the success of a toy, specifically GoldieBlox, will

accomplish the mission of increasing the presence of females in the field of engineering.

However, it is a step towards progress and success. During Sterling’s research process, she found

that “in order to gain interest in and pursue a given field, a person must be exposed to the right

inputs at an early age”. Hopefully these toys will influence the girls to be interested in STEM

fields. Offering toys that include elements and other factors outside the traditional realm of “girl

toys” will hopefully do what it is intended to do. It will introduce girls to the possibilities of

pursuing careers in those fields that lack female presence such as STEM fields.