Gender

Term Paper Title	Gender
# of Words	574
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	2.3

Gender

     There definitely seems to be a "science" to displaying merchandise to target one gender or the other.  There also seems to be a science in "drawing you in."  For instance, the toy store was a store for both boys and girls.  At the front of the store to get the children�s attention were items for both little boys and girls.  Not only was the usual attention getters stores use to attract adult customers,  this store also had to get the attention of both genders of the children.  Besides being piled as high as a mountain, the Barbie dolls were boxed in an eye catching pink color with accents of confetti that says "Look here, this is exciting and you must buy this."  The remote racing cars used to attract little boys shouted the same message with the cars piled sky-high in a neon green and purple accent color.
     To me, color is used quite heavily throughout the toy store to tell a child which side of the store they should be on if they should become confused.  I believe at this early age the mall has created this understanding of gender for us and it is reinforced by the color of the clothes we wear.
     I feel the mall has created this marketing strategy  but we are not always aware of this.  It just seems to work.  When I shop for myself, it seems the entire mall is sitting there just for me and when I am shopping for clothing, it seems like the mall doesn�t have any clothing for men.  Same with jewelry stores.  I just never see jewelry for men-seems like its all for me!
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     The stores I think are most involved in actively constructing gender are Kay-Bee Toys, Target, and Wald...

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