McKenna Pope is the best big sister a gender-nonconforming kid could ask for: When her 4-year-old brother Gavyn made it clear he wanted an Easy-Bake Oven for Christmas, McKenna tried to buy him one—but was put off by the toy’s powder pink hue and all-girl advertising. Even the Easy-Bake website is subtitled “Cooking & Baking Games for Girls.
We guess Hasbro never got the memo that the professional cooking world is actually dominated by men? (Not that we support that.)
Pope, 13, started a Change.org petition to get Hasbro to realize some boys like to bake and, with a little assist from celebrity chefs including Bobby Flay, got the toymaker to design a more unisex oven that’s black, silver and blue—and add boys to its advertising campaign.
Hasbro says it’s been working on the new color scheme for almost two years (really, two years to just change the color?) and let Pope and her family see some prototypes. “I think that they really met most or even all of what I wanted them to do, and they really amazed me,” says Pope, adding that her baby bro thinks the new design is “awesome.”
How about we take this to the next level?
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John Frascotti, Hasbro’s chief marketing officer, says the new model will hit toy stores next summer: “We will continue to offer the existing product too because it’s so popular.”
Okay, but what about our petition for a post-Don’t Ask Don’t Tell G.I. Joe?
iBLOW
When I was younger I had something that was like a easy bake oven it was just called something else it was purple and the food had cool names but still tasted the same, I wonder what happend to that company because it was the Easy Bake oven for boys.
2eo
I’m always glad when these kinds of stories have an actual ending, lots of times they just fizzle away to nothing. Good on Hasbro for listening.