During an action-packed event on Monday, February 17, at the 2014 American International Toy Fair, Disney Consumer Products unveiled its dynamic product lines that will dominate boys toy aisles this year with offerings inspired by highly anticipated content: Disney’s Planes: Fire & Rescue, Star Wars Rebels, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 from Sony Pictures Entertainment and inspired by Marvel’s iconic web-slinger.
That’s right: boys toy aisles. Because girls aren’t allowed, apparently. This is from a PR email with the subject line “DISNEY CONSUMER PRODUCTS READY TO CAPTURE BOYS’ IMAGINATIONS AND DOMINATE TOY AISLES IN 2014,” because only ALL CAPS can explain how exciting this is, obviously.
Aside from the sexism implicit in the messaging – something that only comes from the positioning of the release itself; the quotes from Disney folk are gender neutral – the most fascinating thing about the email for me is that it came from a Marvel.com PR source. On the one hand, I get it – Guardians of the Galaxy and Amazing Spider-Man are Marvel properties – but nonetheless, it’s an explicitly Disney PR message sourced from Marvel. Blurred lines indeed.