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hasbro to unveil black and silver easy-bake oven after teen's petition - cnn

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Hasbro to unveil black and silver Easy-Bake Oven after teen's petition - CNN

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Hasbro announces plans to unveil black and silver EASY-BAKE Oven after meeting with the teen who started petition for gender-neutral toys.

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hasbro to unveil black and silver easy-bake oven after teen's petition - cnn

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Hasbro to unveil black and silver Easy-Bake Oven after teen's petition - CNN

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Hasbro announces plans to unveil black and silver EASY-BAKE Oven after meeting with the teen who started petition for gender-neutral toys.

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When McKenna Pope was 13 she petitioned Hasbro to market its Easy-Bake Oven to boys as well as girls, and to make it available in gender-neutral colors. It worked.

Why you should listen

If anyone's still worried about today's teenagers melting their brains on the Internet, there's at least one who stands out against the crowd: teen activist McKenna Pope. In 2012 Pope's four-year-old brother, who had a passion for cooking, was beyond excited to ask for an Easy-Bake Oven for Christmas. But, confused by the pink and purple colors and the television ads that only featured girls using the toy, he became discouraged.

Pope, thirteen at the time, was indignant that her brother should think any less of himself as a boy who liked to cook. Naturally Pope turned to the Internet. She posted a video and written petition urging the CEO of Hasbro to change its marketing and packaging around the Easy-Bake Oven to make it appealing to boys as well as girls. Pope could hardly anticipate what came next: She received 45,000 signatures and a call from Hasbro, inviting her to their headquarters in Pawtucket, Rhode Island to show her their new unisex designs.

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When McKenna Pope was 13 she petitioned Hasbro to market its Easy-Bake Oven to boys as well as girls, and to make it available in gender-neutral colors. It worked.

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McKenna Pope

In 2012, 13-year-old Mckenna Pope wanted to change the way toys were made. To her surprise, 45,000 people agreed with her.

The Garfield, NJ, teenager wanted toy manufacturers to move away from this "pink is for girls, blue is for boys" mentality and, instead, design more gender-neutral playthings. Boys like purple and red-even pink-too. Girls like black, blue and more male-centric hues, as well as toys, generally associated with boys (building sets, science- or tech-based play).

Pope decided to start a petition on Change.org directed at Hasbro and its classic Easy-Bake Oven, which was predominantly geared toward young girls with its soft pink and purple color scheme. She wanted an oven that her 4-year-old brother, Gavyn, could use too. Perhaps he wanted to explore being a chef one day.

"I believe your product, the Easy-Bake Ultimate Oven, a favorite of mine as a young child, promotes gender roles in society," said Pope in her letter to Hasbro executives. "Your packaging for the product and its promotional materials advertise baking and cooking as a solely girls hobby. Also, its 'girls' coloration of purple and pink make it seem as though cooking is 'girly' which it is not by any means."

She urged Hasbro to start including males on packaging and start featuring less gender-specific colors like red, green and blue. Hasbro listened and invited Pope to its Pawtucket, RI, headquarters to reveal plans to launch a silver and black Easy-Bake Oven for boys and girls. Male chefs like Bobby Flay, Manuel Trevino and Jose Andreas also supported the campaign.

A teen activist, Pope, now 15, has gone on as a public speaker, talking about youth-related issues, particularly the need for more gender neutral play in the toy industry.

Pope recently sent Playthings a letter about why she's continuing to fight for gender neutrality in toys-and why the industry should too:

Hasbro's Easy-Bake Ultimate Oven in blue, black and silver.
Walking through a toy store, it's plain to see that there are defined gender roles within the toy industry. "Girl" aisles are lined with pinks and purples, Barbie and baby dolls; "boy" aisles [are] littered with greens and blues, Nerf guns and trucks. When this conditioning of stereotypical "boys" and "girls" things is pushed onto kids, it can cause them to stray from things that may have caught their interest because the things they like "weren't made for them." In recent years, more toys have made attempts at being open to all genders; the "Easy Bake Oven", for example, made a move to use less gender-specific colors and include both boys and girls on their packaging after a petition that I started asking them to do so. However, there is a prevalent issue with this push for gender inclusion. Many toys, instead of making one toy that is open to boys and girls, choose to make different "versions" for boys and girls. They may see this as becoming more gender neutral, but it's really quite the opposite. For example, for many years Nerf guns were generally limited to boys; however, recently, they have come out with the Nerf Rebelle Powerbelle Blaster, specifically targeted at girls with its pink colors and stereotypically girly and frilly designs. This toy, of course, only features girls on its packaging and in promotional materials. Many toy companies may think that this is a step in the right direction because they're now including girls too in products that were traditionally "for boys". This isn't so; all it is doing is reinforcing that pink and purple with frills is "for girls," and the regular, more practical black and red designs are "for boys." This keeps up a wall of gender separation that isn't healthy, whatsoever. Gender equality can't be achieved until we abolish these gender separations too, and I believe that is a big part of what we must aim to do. Rather than making a "girl's" product and a "boy's" product to match, make one aimed at everyone. Doing this will work to keep impressionable children away from harmful stereotypes and let them know that whatever they choose to play with, or do, is okay.

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Mckenna Pope Continues Gender Neutral Fight

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In 2012, 13-year-old Mckenna Pope wanted to change the way toys were made. The teen activist recently sent Playthings a letter about why she's continuing to fight for gender neutrality in toys-and why the industry should too.

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Be one person: Vivienne Harr at TEDxFiDiWomen

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In January 2017, six-year-old sparkplug Sophie Cruz took the stage alongside her parents and little sister at the Women's March on Washington to speak in defense of immigrants. In both English and Spanish, Cruz lit up the crowd with her call to make "a chain of love to protect our families."Cruz's powerful speech at the march drew national attention, but her fight for immigrant advocacy isn't new. The pint-sized activist first ran into our hearts when she ran into the middle of Pope Francis' Washington DC motorcade in 2015, at the tender age of five. The representation of God on Earth bent down from his Popemobile and embraced the child in his arms. A nice gesture, sure, but not what Cruz was there for. She had a message to deliver.

After the hug, she stuck by the car and made sure the Pope got his hands on a pro-immigration letter and a drawing she made of a smiling Pontiff holding hands with happy children, captioned: "My friends and I love each other no matter our skin color," reported the Washington Post.

Cruz lives in Los Angeles with her parents, both undocumented Mexican immigrants. She took up the cause for immigration reform after learning the family couldn't visit her grandfather in Mexico without facing trouble at the border. Not happy with that, she vowed to fix the problem.

To celebrate Cinco De Mayo 2016, she paid another visit to DC, this time to drop in on Barack Obama and be fêted as a "champion of immigration reform." But the real heart-clencher of the visit was her parents, who were forced to wait outside the White House because of their immigration status, the Post reported. (They did get leftover empanadas wrapped in White House napkins, though. So, there's that.)

As a young person directly affected by the country's immigration policy, Cruz's voice gives non-immigrants a much-needed perspective on the human impact of the issue. As a leader, she inspires other young girls to also make their voices heard. And as part of an embattled community, she reminds others like her that there is power in numbers.

"Let us fight with love, faith, and courage so that our families will not be destroyed," she said to her fellow children of undocumented immigrants at the Women's March. "I also want to tell the children not to be afraid, because we are not alone."

Fight on, Sophie.
This piece is part of our new project "Year in Women." Check out all the women featured:

(Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for SOZE)

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How Six-Year-Old Sophie Cruz Became the 2017 Face for Immigration Reform

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A digital media and commerce company that enables creativity through inspirational content and online classes.

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Africa's 100 Most Influential People of 2013, at age 11 * Appeared on , , CNBC, Bloomberg TV and . Featured on .

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Vivienne's story has generated over two billion media impressions. At the age of 10, Town & Country recognized Vivienne as one of "America's 50 Most Influential Philanthropists." Entrepreneur voted her one of "15 female entrepreneurs to watch in 2015."

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Payal represented children who fight for children's rights, especially for girls' right to education and against child labour and child marriage. Now she is an Honorary Adult Friend.

Payal lives in a poor village in Rajasthan, a part of India where many people live in poverty and girls are often forced into child marriage. But Payal is the leader of the Child Parliament in her village, and fights for change. When she talks, adults and children alike listen.

"I was proud when I found out that so many people had voted for me," says Payal. "I want to fight for all children, especially girls. Here in Rajasthan, lots of girls are forced to work hard and get married when they are only twelve. I don't like child marriage. We visit children at home and explain to their parents why school is important. I want to be a teacher. We also tell fathers not to hit their children or wives. If they are loving instead, things are better for everyone."

Along with the adult leaders of the village, she and other children are working to make their village 'child-friendly'. "A good leader is honest and solves problems instead of complaining. We visit children at home and explain to their parents why school is important. We also tell fathers not to beat their children or wives. If they behave in a loving way life is better for everyone," says Payal, who dreams of becoming a teacher in her own village.

The leader of the adult parliament in the village often asks Payal and her friends for advice. "The adults listen to us and help us," she says.

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Payal represented children who fight for children's rights, especially for girls' right to education and against child labour and child marriage. Now she is an Honorary Adult Friend. Payal lives in a poor village in Rajasthan, a part of India where many people live in poverty and girls are often forced into child marriage.

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Posted in Blog on 12/01/2016
by Nicole LaChance, Marketing & Communications Coordinator
Most of us know the incredible story of Malala Yousafzai who, after being shot while trying to attend school, became a world-renowned activist for girls' right to an education. Fortunately, there are several children like Yousafzai who do not let their young age get in the way of fighting for what they believe in. Here are ten stories of inspirational child activists from around the world.
Bryson Foster - MDA Goodwill Ambassador
Being diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy at age five hasn't slowed Foster down. While attending a fundraiser for MD treatments at age nine, he asked to address the crowd and shared about his journey with the disease. This led to him being named an MDA Goodwill Ambassador two years in a row. Now a young adult, Foster is still active in the cause, having raised tens of thousands of dollars for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Which child activists inspire you?
Like this post? Sign up for our email newsletter to receive more stories, information, and resources about gifted youth straight to your inbox. This post is part of the Hoagies' Gifted Blog Hop Child Activists. Please click the image below to keep on hopping!

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Child Activists: Ten Stories about Inspirational Kids

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Posted in Blog on 12/01/2016 by Nicole LaChance, Marketing & Communications Coordinator Most of us know the incredible story of Malala Yousafzai who, after being shot while trying to attend school, became a world-renowned activist for girls' right to an education.