The color pink is very well. In its place. For instance, hollyhocks and showy sedum (above). Or strawberry ice cream. But, yikes! Our clever marketing men (and women, I suppose) are smothering an entire generation of little girls in an enormous pink miasma.
I mean, have you really looked at what's being offered in the stores and shops? There was this entire aisle of pink over at the WalMart the other day. Costumes. Dolls. Toys. Pink. PINK.
PINK. The part that really frightens me is that the girls not only go along with this monolithic sales push, but they love it, if I am to judge from my familial experience. The youngest granddaughter even insisted on a pink bedroom, she did! And more pink in the hen house.
The theme is not just pink, but
princess pink. Costumes, tiaras, the whole nine yards of cloying Hollywood-style royal frou-frou. And, oh yes, a proper backpack for the princess while we are about it!
Where are the ginghams ... the greens, reds and yellows ... the plaids, prints and stripes? The individuality (or, to be more PC, the Diversity)? You realize that when the kids grow a bit older and rebel, as rebel they will, they will simply choose to follow another mass-marketed theme. After all, what is a Goth girl but a pink princess rendered in black and white?
Forgive the rant. It's just that today I had one pink experience too many. Would you believe pale red marking pens over at Staples, hardly the home of your everyday princess? Or, below, pink kitchen tools at Tuesday Morning for the thoroughly over-grown princess. Eeek!
The color pink is very well. In its place. For instance, hollyhocks and showy sedum (above). Or strawberry ice cream. But, yikes! Our clever marketing men (and women, I suppose) are smothering an entire generation of little girls in an enormous pink miasma.
I mean, have you really looked at what's being offered in the stores and shops? There was this entire aisle of pink over at the WalMart the other day. Costumes. Dolls. Toys. Pink. PINK. PINK. The part that really frightens me is that the girls not only go along with this monolithic sales push, but they love it, if I am to judge from my familial experience. The youngest granddaughter even insisted on a pink bedroom, she did! And more pink in the hen house.
The theme is not just pink, but princess pink. Costumes, tiaras, the whole nine yards of cloying Hollywood-style royal frou-frou. And, oh yes, a proper backpack for the princess while we are about it!
Where are the ginghams ... the greens, reds and yellows ... the plaids, prints and stripes? The individuality (or, to be more PC, the Diversity)? You realize that when the kids grow a bit older and rebel, as rebel they will, they will simply choose to follow another mass-marketed theme. After all, what is a Goth girl but a pink princess rendered in black and white?
Forgive the rant. It's just that today I had one pink experience too many. Would you believe pale red marking pens over at Staples, hardly the home of your everyday princess? Or, below, pink kitchen tools at Tuesday Morning for the thoroughly over-grown princess. Eeek!
Too much pink for me,but I'm a guy.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to say I have never been much in the way for pink. My favorite color as a child was blue and now it's a tie between purple and green.
ReplyDeletesteve -- little guys get to wear red & yellow & green with cool dragons, skulls & other interesting designs. They're lucky!
ReplyDeleteqd -- I delight in Color -- all colors, mixed in great profusion. My only objection to the Pink explosion is the lockstep look, the fact that a bunch of marketing men/women are deciding what our little girls should be like. Now if someone were to come out with a pink Tshirt with a skull on it, I'd buy.
OmegaGrandDotter will probably love this post, GJ.
ReplyDeleteOur decor is southwestern, so pink wouldn't fit. LOL
~Anon in AV.
P.S. You can call off the Search and Rescue squad, I think.
anon av -- she'd love all those pink pictures, she would. I called off the posse, by the way.
ReplyDeletePretty! Except for the spatulas!
ReplyDeletedk -- you have more patience with the marketing men than I do! Actually, there's a fine set of R.E.D. kitchen tools right next to those pink thingies.
ReplyDeletegranny j...would write more, but I'm seeing pink! :)
ReplyDeleteYou got me with the flower since I'm a sucker for macro flower shots. Then there was all that other pink stuff... Do you go out and take photos for the theme (of the day) or are these from your archives?
ReplyDeleteGreat. I always enjoy your whimsy and your eye. Keep it up.
jan -- ah, why not that you are in the pink?
ReplyDeletewandrin -- the short answer, "both". I often have themes in mind and when I see an appropriate picture out in the field, I feel very lucky & go for it. I also have a H*U*G*E archive full of pictures I find/found interesting and periodically pull together a few related items for a post.
What happens to the tomboys, I wonder?
ReplyDeleteApparently in Japan grown women are dresssing in the pink princess costumes and the fairy wings!
lucy -- I suppose that tomboys have to do what I do -- shop the boys' department for Tshirts with dragons & lions & other heroic such. I find even the grown-up girls' Tees to be awfully saccharine. As for the Japanese ladies, that's really strange.
ReplyDeleteI must admit to purchasing pink kitchen tools for the Omegadaughter, and looking at the pic in your post with a bit of parental envy. But in my defense...
ReplyDeletethey're better than those cheesy, plastic, crappy, fake kitchen toys that most parents get their kids. I skip the toy store and head right to the place where all caring parents shop for their kids... the local gourmet gadgetry shop. (Where they have promised to scour the world to find a real chef's coat in kiddo sizes.)
SIL, aka Omegadad
SIL -- I'm with you and all for starting kiddos on the Real Thing as soon as possible. BTW, do you have a Tuesday Morning in Anchorage? Tis a chain of high-end close-outs and great fun to visit periodically. Our local store still has the large gilt manatee for one's garden.
ReplyDeletePink has been on of those colors that young girls have been automatically associated with. But could it be that as a child, they tend to like that color automatically because of the emotions it produces
ReplyDeleteyer highness -- I recall that it is a tradition with babies --pink for girls, blue for boys. I myself always preferred yellow or something checkered or the occasional green. However, I notice that even tho you have a vested interest in pink, you include a very R.E.D. holiday dress on your first page...
ReplyDeleteToo much pink! I recently went to a bday party for my co-worker's daughter. I purposely avoided the pink, princess, makeup, play clothes, etc and opted to get her a thomas the train game. She loved it.
ReplyDeletepvaz -- welcome -- and do come again! I think that Thomas the train was a perfect gift for a little girl!
ReplyDelete