Should publishers "think pink"

The other day I stumbled upon a blog that discussed how some publishers are publishing gender specific books to children. This seems to make a lot of sense from a marketing standpoint. Some books may relate more to a particular sex, so why not market them in that fashion. The books are being published with pinks and purples to attract young girls and primary colors to attract young boys. So what's the problem. Boys will do anything to avoid being associated with the color pink.

Boys are mortified at the thought of holding a pink book or toy, wearing pink clothing. The boys who are not, are picked on by other boys because of it. I have worked with children for a large part of my life and I recall one little boy who came in wearing pink shoes. That day one of the older kids called him a girl and when he said he was a boy, the older boy replied "Boys don't wear pink". To this day I have never seen those same pink shoes on his feet. It is horrible that boys feel that they cannot associate with pink or else they will seem like a girl, however that is a stereotype that exists, that marketers need to recognize.

Currently in the U.K. girls already read more than boys. With boys being mortified by the "girlie" colors it is no wonder they are not picking up as many books. Girls have no problem taking a book marketed towards boys adorned in the primary colors. Boys are judged by their peers based on the color books they choose and girls can choose which everyone they want without an comments.

Marketers need to understand how what they read and how much they read affects them. By producing books that turn boys away from reading them, they are doing these boys a disservice. Understanding issues that boys face when it comes to portraying themselves as masculine, publishers need to reduce the number of books they publish as gender specific. Also parents need to be aware of there boy's phobia of "girlie" colors and provide them with plenty of books which the boys deem acceptable to read.

Information for this post was provided from the Learned on Women Blog