Brainwashing children into thinking that they must favour certain colours, activities or role-models just because of their gender is a special pet peeve of mine. Not only am I routinely angered to no end by the strict dichotomy that exists between "boys' " and "girls' " toys. You know, that poorly disguised and one-direction-only attempt to direct girls straight into the pink-and-pink doll, beauty and house appliances department, and boys to the red-and-blue realm of action heros, scientific games and cars - all while pretending that cultural stereotypes and society have never played any role at all, and hiding all the number of girls and boys that don't especially like their assigned toys and activities when it comes to lying to people with statistics: Because it's all genetics, folks! As a girl, I was born with the special gene designed to appreciate pink and dolls over anything else! Biological determinists with some serious sexist brainwashing ftw!
Well, now it seems that I should be worried, and angered, about the food as well. Because boys and girls need this kind of gender bias brainwashing to feel enticed into buying and eating chocolate. Obviously. It's quite clear that girls need that pale pink incentive ridden with hearts and Disney princesses in all their artificial beauty in order to enjoy their chocolate, while boys need that red-and-blue packaging with, in this case, planes (but superheroes or cars would also do). Because even when wanting chocolate, children (and adults as well), need some gender bias in their lives to keep them interesting.
I remember seeing this in a local supermarket a couple of months ago, flipping out, and thinking about the number of parents who, brainwashed themselves by the societal gender stereotypes, will choose the 'correct' wrapping according to their children's sex without any second thoughts. Perhaps you will think - But this is fun and colourful, and children can choose whichever they like! Yep, same way girls nearly always choose pink and Barbie and boys nearly always choose blue and planes. because they've seen and they've been taught all these gender bias BS since the day they were born. But no worries, people will scream at you when you mention the phrase "cultural impact" and proceed to explain it all by referencing their innate biology and falsifying statistical surveys that have the nerve to call themselves 'scientific'.
And if you think that is hardly an important issue, think about how far society goes in order to manipulate and brainwash people into accepting unnecessary and non-existent 'innate' differences in likes, aspirations and abilities between women and men. This chocolate brand took the time, effort and money to create two separate wrappings in order to make girls and boys believe they must like and choose different things just because of their gender. And that, frankly, scares me. And it also scares me that it doesn't scare you.
