Apparently, should you go to the drive through and ask for a Happy Meal, you will then be asked if you want a toy for a boy, or for a girl. If you say it's for a boy, you will get a Batman toy. If you say the toy is for a girl, you will get a Wizard of Oz toy.
Does this piss anyone else off or is it just me? And let me be clear, the Oz toys are not dolls. They don't have little fashionable dresses on, they are little figures with interlocking yellow brick roads. There are three boy figures and three girl figures.
When did McDonald's decide that only girls do or should like The Wizard of Oz? And why should a little boy or girl automatically be presented with one toy or another? It's unnecessarily perpetuating gender conformism and it makes any kid who doesn't automatically conform feel just a wee bit awkward. And don't tell me they won't notice, care, or get the message, because I was one of those kids and I certainly got the message loud and clear when the things I liked didn't conform to standards. And it's not just little girls who like Oz. My cousins Mike and Marc used to watch it over and over. Every day at one point.
And don't think it escapes me that one toy is decidedly more violent than the other (with batman action figures in fighting poses and shooting a "batarang"). Oz has always been a pretty peaceful story about discovering the strength within, and I wonder why this has to be judged as a feminine trait. Is it just because the hero is a girl? Because there are plenty of men in the story as well. And who's to say a boy can't relate to Dorothy's search for self? All I'm really asking is that the employees change their wording and ask customers if they want a Wizard of Oz toy, or a Batman toy. Done and done.
Of course, I made a complaint, and if you'd like to do that as well, or you think I'm just a melodramatic guy with too much time on my hands, feel free to check out the current campaign.
