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Open letter to Nick Jr and its licensees: Diego! Dora for boys!
Filed under: Development/Milestones: Babies, Media, Toys
Nick Jr. marketing executives and brand managers
Licensees of Nick Jr. brands
and All those who value sanity in an insane world
Dears Sirs and Madams (who must all be childless, or you'd know better for sure):
Thank you for bringing Dora the Explorer, her cousin, Diego, and their friends and family, Boots and Swiper in particular, into the world. You have given our toddlers and preschoolers hours of joy, worlds of imaginary friends, and dozens of Spanish words. You have given we parents a few hours of sanity every day while our children watched your blessed show, which has a spiralling effect that we can't possible quantify. For all this, we thank you.
But.
But, our little boys want to wear t-shirts, and running shoes, and underwear, and diapers, and socks, and those magical backpacks, depicting their favorite friend. Yes, we'd like Diego on clothes. We'd also like Boots, Swiper and (yes! a little girl - I am not kidding!) DORA on clothes. Dora underwear for boys. You think it sounds crazy? Well, try explaining to your manly man of a husband why you brought home pink girl's underwear for your darling little metrosexual. So few of us have the fortitude.
It’s not only that. We’d like all your products to identify less with the gender of the star and more with the attitude of your program. Your shows are not “girls’ shows” and “boys’ shows.” Boys watch Dora. Girls watch Diego. It is not right for you to force little children into camps of gender identity so young. In fact, they refuse to be forced. So instead of making frilly girly shirts with Dora and Boots on the front, and violent-looking black shirts sporting Diego’s manly mug, can you please make ordinary t-shirts, in white, and grey, and red, and blue, that ANYONE could wear? Dora, Diego, Boots, Isa, Tico, Swiper, Benny, Alicia, Backpack, Rescue Pack, Click, Map… they’re not statements of gender identification. They’re animated characters that anyone - boy, girl, mom, dad - can, and should be able to, love.
And while you’re at it, give us some Diego halloween costumes - or at the very least, some safari vests and orange rescue packs in preschool sizes - immediately.
We expect that this issue will be addressed as soon as practicable. We are standing by, debit cards at the ready. We really cannot continue like this much longer. We have Halloween, and potty training, and preschool, and our very sanity, to think of.
We look forward to hearing from you. We can be reached everywhere toddlers and preschoolers shop for clothing, in every living room blessed with basic cable, on your web site, trolling eBay.
Regards,
Parents Everywhere, especially, HERE.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
12-18-2005 @ 6:50PM
Kate said...Amen!
I feel lucky to have a little girl since for some reason its less "weird" to dress a girl in boy clothes. My 2-year-old daughter is a Bob the Builder fanatic. I'd love to see more gender-neutral items. And some Bob girl underwear! I think my baby would potty-train in no time! :-)
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12-18-2005 @ 6:50PM
Momma2mingbu said...And don't forget to make Diego stuff for girls while you're at it! My 4.5 year old daughter has been in love with Diego since day one. (She must like Latin men like her momma!) I'm sure she'd love a Diego shirt!
Nick Jr. isn't the only one who needs to wake up and make clothing for both genders though. My 6.5 year old son loves Maya & Miguel. They have tons of girls clothing, but nothing for boys. How about a shirt with Miguel kicking his soccer ball for my son, OK people?
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12-18-2005 @ 6:50PM
Nicola said...Sarah,
We do iron-ons. The easy and cheap solution to this problem. My son *loves* Dora. He's not even interested in Diego, so Diego clothing wouldn't give us a bit of help. You can purchase iron-ons (they have loads on Ebay), buy cheap shirts at Walmart, and voila!, Dora clothing for your little guy (and at half the price!). Kellan is currently into soccer as well, so we bought him a set of Dora soccer themed iron-ons which should be arriving this week. And I've got three long sleeved winter shirts ready to become his new favourites!
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12-18-2005 @ 6:50PM
Uncle Roger said...Count me in too! My son loves Dora as well and we'd happily buy tons of Dora stuff if it weren't all frilly -- that goes for my daughter too.
Thanks for the tip, Nicola! I'm not sure we have an iron (for me, jeans and a polo count as dressing up), but that may be worth getting one for!
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12-18-2005 @ 6:50PM
Brina said...I would swear I wrote this... Imagine my embarrassment when my son had an accident on the airplane, and had to go without his jeans, proudly displaying his pink Dora training pants through the airport in El Salvador. Very uncomfortable for my husband I'm sure, when relatives came to greet us and his son was wearing pink Dora diapers. And our trip through Target, literally howling with disappointment when I refused to buy him the girly Dora underpants and opted for Ninja Turtles instead. He doesn't even know what a Ninja Turtle is, and has hated those underwear ever since. So now we go with the plain white, character-free variety. Dora clothing for boys and Diego merchandise would be a blessing. In the mean time, I'm making a safari vest and buying him and orange "rescue pack".
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12-18-2005 @ 6:50PM
Kylee said...I couldn't be more happy to find parents who feel the same way I do. My son adores Dora and Diego. His birthday is in a month and he really wants a Dora birthday, but of course his father wont here of it. So I looked for Diego birthday supplies, and of course they don't have any. My son also wants Dora talking Kitchen for his birthday ( he will be 3). But of course since its Dora its targeted towards little girls. So now he tells me that he wants Diegos talking kithcen.
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12-18-2005 @ 6:50PM
Leslie said...Count me in also. My son's loves are Thomas, Sponge Bob and Dora. It's easier to be a girl that like Thomas than a Dora loving boy it seems. I did see Dora legos and now there are some Dora board games - but still there isn't anything wrong with a boy with a dollhouse, kitchen or a shirt with Dora on it. I keep thinking Nick is turning Dora into Barbie, Jr.
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12-18-2005 @ 6:50PM
Jean Leslie said...I have a 2 1/2 yr old boy who adores Dora and have struggled finding 'gender neutral' items. I found a purple pair of sunglasses, but most things are pink and are made specific to girls. Right now being 2, wearing pink/purple doesn't matter too much to him, but it would be nice to find items like underwear (since we are potty training right now) made for boys. These kinds of items are impossible to find, and I haven't found any Diego underwear as yet either as an alternative.
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12-18-2005 @ 6:50PM
natalie said...I completely agree. Both of my boys have adored Dora and now my 3 year old adores Diego. He wanted to have a Diego cake, plates and hats for a party but settled for bright pink Dora item as there STILL is no "cousin Diego" in stores. My mom ordered a Diego doll from England for Christmas and I must admit I also have given into the pink dora underware for the sanity of potty training.
Thank you for expressing a very real mom frustration for both of my boys.
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12-18-2005 @ 6:50PM
nenana said...you are right on!
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12-18-2005 @ 6:50PM
Janet said...I have 3 boys and two of them already adore Dora and Friends and the third growing up in a Dora and Thomas the Tank Engine house has no choice but to love them too. Kudos to you for this letter, now I will just sit and wait, don't they see the money to be made?!?!? Maybe my boys will get their wishes for Xmas - try to find a Diego Doll you might have to skip a mortgage payment to afford it on EBAY!!!! Thanks!!!
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12-18-2005 @ 6:50PM
Bryna said...My 2 year old nephew loves loves loves Dora. My sister's boyfriend is VERY touchy about putting him in girl's clothes, so we've really latched on to the Diego stuff to relax him, though the kid doesn't give a crap about Diego...its all Dora, all the time, with an occassional break for Boots. :-) For his second birthday (a month) we're going to be doing Dora them, and I want to kill Nick Jr. for making the only printable invitions on their site frikken Dora Princess crap. (What is with Dora as Princess anyway? She is way cooler than any stupid princess. ;-) ) Anyway, you're right. Did you send this to Nick Jr.? Because you really should. We should start a letter-writing campaign.
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12-18-2005 @ 6:50PM
Leslie said...My son is 2 and has a pink Dora pillow case and will not sleep with anything else. For the longest that's all he wanted - DORA DORA DORA!! He also wanted his birthday to be Dora, but opted out for Blues Clues - pretty cooky on my part not to let him have what he truely wanted... Now Diego and Rescue Pack are his "best friends" and there's not alot to be found and I'm definitely willing to pay the price at this point!! I'm even thinking about asking Santa to bring him the Dora ATV, but wish it had orange wheels rather that purple... WE NEED VARIETY PEOPLE!! Or at least give us the option of buying the rights and we'll start marketing it and split the profits... We parents seem to be the only ones with the brilliant idea!!!
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12-18-2005 @ 6:50PM
Karen (Joey's Mommy) said...I totally agree about boys and Dora. My son also loves to watch Dora. He also loves Nascar and Thomas the Tank. When I was a little girl, I played with Barbie's and Hot Wheels. I turned out just fine! ;) My 3 1/2 year old son is asking Santa for a Dora kitchen and the Dora house (along with tons of other stuff, including typical 'boy' stuff). I felt a little funny about it, but I think I will splurge and get him both!!! After all, I don't want to emphasize stereotypes to him and maybe he will grow up to be a loving family man with good values!
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12-18-2005 @ 6:50PM
Karen said...If this ever gets forwarded to Nickelodeon, and I hope it does! We need Dora stuff for Boys!!! Less of the pink and more neutral colors!! BOYS LIKE DORA, TOO!
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