All Are Welcome!

Toy giant Hasbro was the focus of a social media storm recently when it only included male characters in action-figure sets based on the film Star Wars: The Force Awakens—which features a lead female character, Rey. Cue a public backlash, the creation of the Twitter hashtag #WheresRey, and the rapid release of a Rey action character.

Kids the world over face gender stereotyping from a very early age, from the toys they are encouraged to play with to the books they read and the clothes they wear. According to some lobby groups, those stereotypes can ultimately limit the careers girls and boys go on to develop and even the money they can earn.

PLAYING AGAINST TYPE
The issue of gender-neutrality in toy stores has become a political hot potato, with groups successfully persuading some retailers to remove both gender labeling and separate boys’ and girls’ aisles. A shake-up of marketing practices among toy manufacturers is certainly long overdue, with more and more evidence that gender-based retailing strategies are likely to fall afoul of increasingly conscientious consumers.

If gender-neutrality is viewed with suspicion by the toy companies, who fear that boys won’t want toys targeted at girls and vice versa, broadcasters are much more switched on. In fact, commissioners are increasingly looking for more gender-neutral content.

Broadcasters are “trying to get as many kids as possible in front of the screen,” states Pierre Sissmann, the chairman and CEO of Cyber Group Studios. “Even in the action shows I see now coming from Asia, you’ve got a lot more girls [included]. We are developing a very big kids’ sports show set in the future with some amazing talent. The teams are both boys and girls. Ten or 15 years ago, it would have been only boys.”

MarVista Entertainment “is definitely looking at more gender-neutral content for the kids’ and tween markets,” says Vanessa Shapiro, the company’s executive VP of distribution. “Perhaps kids today are not as gender focused as they used to be. In the U.S. particularly, gender is more blended because networks and society at large are more concerned about it.”

Gender-neutrality in kids’ TV is not a new thing though, insists Olivier Dumont, managing director of Entertainment One (eOne) Family. “Terrestrial broadcasters have been looking for gender-neutral shows as far back as I can remember, because they certainly don’t want to alienate half of their potential audience.”

Stefanie Fischer, the head of content at WDR mediagroup in Germany, adds, “From my experience, the larger broadcasters, especially public-service broadcasters, try to address boys and girls equally and are looking for material that is not skewed too clearly in one direction or the other.”

The same argument applies to commercial channels, with broadcasters better able to attract advertisers that are marketing toys aimed at both girls and boys with a program that does the same thing.

Of course, there are exceptions. “Unfortunately, many broadcasters still seek out programming that skews to one particular gender or another—most frequently, boys,” reports Christopher Keenan, the senior VP of content development and production at Mattel. “This is less true in the preschool arena, but as we move up in the demos, there definitely appears to be a distinction made by many broadcasters as to who their intended audience is.”

In the on-demand world, the rationale for gender-neutral content is clearer. “By nature of being on-demand, it appears that these platforms are able to explore a wider variety of content and aren’t bound by the same needs of a traditional broadcaster that has to consider things like programming blocks, schedule flow or ‘time-slot-to-time-slot’ audience retention,” Keenan continues.

“Compared to traditional broadcasters, on-demand platforms have one significant advantage: they are not limited to showing one program at a time,” concurs WDR’s Fischer. “If they offer a show that appeals to girls only, they don’t exclude boys from the platform, as long as they have another program that fulfills their needs as well. Thus, they can be more flexible and interested in mainstream as well as niche content.”

The biggest problem broadcasters and OTT platforms face is that while gender-neutrality works well for preschool children, for whom gender differences aren’t really on the radar yet, it’s a much tougher sell for older children.

THE AGE FACTOR
“Preschool shows are 90 percent gender-neutral, although that doesn’t mean they are easy to create,” says Matteo Corradi, CEO of Mondo TV. “We are addressing a very young and easily distracted audience and need to catch their attention with content that is both funny and ‘edutaining.’”

Bruno Zarka, media director at INK Global, says that appealing to both boys and girls is easier in preschool because stories are usually structured around kids’ daily routines. “Preschoolers are in that precious moment in life where so much of what they do is common across both genders. Soon they will be entering school and the world of social groups, where the easiest socialization factor is to join with your gender in order to be a part of the group. Becoming accepted as a part of your group then means abiding by certain pre-established rules that define behavior and attitude.”

“I do believe that younger audiences pay somewhat less attention to gender in their favorite shows and much less attention to how their viewing habits are perceived by their peers,” Mattel’s Keenan adds.

As Halle Stanford, The Jim Henson Company’s executive VP of children’s entertainment, points out, “With older kids the question is, are you better off just accepting that they want gender-specific content? Certainly the feedback we get from the networks is that for older kids, it’s best to not be gender-neutral. Once they get in the playground they start to polarize and identify with their gender more. As kids get older they want to learn more about themselves and see themselves more in shows. Because of this, shows for older audiences are much tougher to make gender-neutral.”

So what goes into making a show that will play well across both demos? Sissmann offers up some insight by explaining what Cyber Group did when making the new series Zorro the Chronicles.

“Zorro is traditionally boy-driven,” Sissmann says of the iconic character. “We introduced Zorro’s twin sister [Ines]. I wanted to make sure that girls would also be interested. There is no reason why girls cannot have adventures and be present in action scenes. I figured that in the 21st century, it was important for the [Zorro] franchise to have a girl who would not be the enamored love interest. That’s part of Zorro’s myth, the love interest, but that’s not what I was looking for. I was looking for a real team. [Best friends] Bernardo and Zorro to me were not enough; we needed to put in a girl, who is actually on par with Bernardo. Zorro is still the main character, but Bernardo and Ines share an [equal] role.”

Ryan St. Peters, the VP of kids and family at Shaftesbury, says that it’s “important to ensure that the setting of the show is something that both genders can relate to and are drawn to, and that within that world you have strong characters of both genders. Generally speaking, ensemble shows also help establish a more gender-neutral environment than a show that is primarily about one lead character. It’s also important to us to develop shows with lead characters in non-traditional roles, such as Firsts, an animated series we have in development featuring a strong, adventurous female lead set against the backdrop of exploration.”

“Make sure that you have strong aspirational characters that will appeal to each of the two genders,” recommends eOne Family’s Dumont. “When your concept only has one single lead character you need to ensure that he or she has character traits that will appeal to both genders.”

INK’s Zarka says that the factors contributing to gender-neutrality are different depending on whether a show is scripted or non-scripted. “For example, music, gaming, sport can be designed to entertain both genders,” he says. “When it comes to a scripted show, the key factor is obviously the story itself, which must be a neutral genre, with characters that both genders can identify with.”

BRIDGING THE GAP
When it comes to bridge and tween shows, gender-neutrality becomes more of a challenge with different genres having a tendency to skew heavily towards either girls or boys.

“Typically romantic comedies are aimed at girls, straight comedies are more focused on boys,” says MarVista’s Shapiro.

Mondo TV’s Corradi adds: “Animated action or comedy is mostly geared towards boys, but if comedy is well made it can bring in both girls and boys.”

Being gender-neutral can be easier in the factual space, says Shaftesbury’s St. Peters, “because many of these projects for kids are comedic in nature, like hidden-camera prank shows. It’s easier to develop and produce a solid gender-neutral show in comedy versus action, as action inherently lends itself to skew more boy in the kids’ space.”

“Laughter is often a common denominator and a great point of entry for both genders,” says Mattel’s Keenan. “The days of boys not watching shows with a female protagonist or girls not watching action or adventure are, thankfully, behind us.”

The importance of comedy to all channels is the reason why straight action-adventure shows have had such a hard time over the past 10 to 15 years, declares Dumont. “Action-adventure shows get way less airtime than when I was young. Broadcasters now ensure that shows always contain a strong dose of comedy. Comedy not only enhances the show’s repeatability, it also helps ensure girls don’t desert the show entirely.”

TOGETHER TIME
Another area of content that has successfully bridged the gender gap is co-viewing—films and TV series aimed at kids and their parents. It’s a genre where MarVista has focused a lot of energy, says Shapiro. “We are working a lot with Netflix and it comes up a lot with them, but all clients are trying it because family content bridges the gap between both genders—the whole family can sit together.”

Examples on the MarVista slate include shows like The Inspectors, Zapped and the brand-new family movie Annabelle Hooper and the Ghosts of Nantucket.

“While a lot of our Disney movies were and are girl-centric, we are trying out content now that is not just for girls but that a sister and brother can watch together,” Shapiro continues.

“People used to say that boys drive the audience and girls follow,” Cyber Group’s Sissmann says. “I don’t think that’s the case today. A lot of the shows are actually girl-driven and boys also look at them.”

Ultimately, “Broadcasters reflect what’s happening” in society, Sissmann says. “Yes, they want to attract more kids and there is a fragmentation of the audience, but at the same time [moving away from gender stereotypes is] a big trend in society, all over the world at different levels.”