Gender and Privacy Lessons at Toys “R” Us
Normally, I make a point of avoiding Toys “R” Us at all costs. Aside from hating everything it stands for as a goliath multinational corporation, it consistently has the worst customer service and merchandise of any store I’ve ever been into (Radio Shack ranks a not-so-distant second). But, occasionally, need seems to propel me through their multicolored grammar- and punctuation-abusing doors (though, it must be said, even on those occasions I never find what I’m looking for, which proves that I’m either a slow learner, a glutton for punishment, or perhaps both).
As it so happens, my son is turning one year old next Saturday and, for various reasons, my wife and I are having a hard time finding the precise party supplies we’re looking for. Once again, I mistakenly thought I’d find just the thing in the small city known as Toys “R” Us, so over lunch today, I found myself back in that soul-sucking purgatory its actual rulers would like you to believe is presided over by the towering giraffe with such a friendly face.
After quickly figuring out that the store offered nothing remotely close to what I was looking for (it never ever does; I just want to stress that fact), I decided to have a little fun documenting some of the more grotesque aspects of the store. After all, I had my camera with me and a little time to spare.
There being so much to choose from in the deliberately labyrinthine marketer’s rat maze around me, I decided to start with the most obvious: gender lessons. I was shocked–shocked!–to learn that Toys “R” Us is so helpful for parents or other adults who need to know immediately, and with absolute certainty, the gender to which a given toy belongs.
On previous trips, I’d already learned that the sections of the store were clearly delineated as “boy” or “girl” departments, though the well-researched and no doubt heavily tested layout was much more complex than simply drawing a line down the middle of the store (which would perhaps be admitting to much, even for a place as obviously gendered as Toys “R” Us). Rather, the twists and turns make sure you at least cover the opposing gender’s territory, even if you think you have no interest in buying toys from those sections. Last time I was there, I turned the corner of the board game section (thinking I’d find what I was looking for there, since I hadn’t found it yet*) to find myself awash in the blinding and ironically stomach-churning Pepto-Bismol realm of Barbie.
At any rate, this time around I paid a little more attention to the gender divide within sections, and I began by taking a few snapshots of some of the more obvious examples of the assistance provided by the team effort of manufacturer’s packaging and store layout. I don’t think the following photos really require much comment:
As I mentioned earlier, such stereotyping should come as no surprise to anyone, and I’m hardly the first person to observe or report it. If this were all I had to say about my trip to Toys “R” Us, I would have just grumbled all this to myself and perhaps chuckled to myself (a little uncomfortably) as I looked at the pictures. But what interested me most was what came next.
I’d meant to take more pictures and provide a somewhat more nuanced analysis of the interior of Toys “R” Us in general. Even though I’d started with the most obvious, I wanted to eventually go a little deeper. But I never got the chance, because evidently, taking pictures within Toys “R” Us is illegal (or simply against Corporate Policy, though the security guard’s reaction seemed to suggest–or actually believe–otherwise).
Our exchange went like this:
Security Guard (there always seems to be more security guards around in Toys “R” Us than clerks): Excuse me, sir, no photographs are allowed in the store.Me: Really? Isn’t this a public place?
SG: No photographs are allowed. There’s a sign at the front of the store.
Me: But I don’t understand. Why aren’t photos allowed?
SG: It’s store policy. You need to have permission from Corporate to take pictures inside the store.
Me: Can you tell me the reasoning behind this store policy? Are you worried that people will expose to the world the way the interiors of the stores look?
SG: Sir, it’s store policy. You can’t …
At this point, I gave in to my inevitable defeat (I wasn’t really interested in the conversation anymore anyway) and left the store to return to my desk and finish off my lunch hour by writing up this overly long post with a single not-so-meaty nugget: the many evils of Toys “R” Us include an unnecessarily unhealthy store layout and an unnecessarily restrictive privacy policy to cover up this fact.
Actually, perhaps I’m glossing over this “store policy” too lightly. It might actually be protecting the store more than I know. Who knows what I could have exposed with my camera and modest blog, if only I’d been allowed a few more shots …
___________________
- I never did find Super Scrabble there last Christmas. The clerk had evidently never heard of the most popular word board game on the planet, on which this newer version is based.
becs and 
Anonymous are discussing. 
Brian Sawyer 
Anonymous 3:08 pm on October 14, 2005 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Knowing how you feel about Toys R Us, I was wondering why you thought they might have inflatable baseballs in the first place. Maybe you’re more of an optimist than I thought.
–Your wife
Anonymous 5:54 pm on October 25, 2005 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Sad Wanker….Get out more and stop spending all your time taking your anger out on poor store security guards! As for the store being a public place, no…it’s private property and the store has the right to tell you to leave if it so choses, and I certainly would have done. Get a life you sad bastard.
Brian 7:34 pm on October 25, 2005 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Dear anonymous,
Thank you for stopping by my personal (though still public) space on the web and raising the level of discourse for this humble blog with your enlightened and enlightening comments. It’s too bad you didn’t leave your own name or web address for me to return the favor.
But I take issue with your claim that I was “taking [my] anger out on poor security guards.” First, I was hardly taking my anger out on the guard. In fact, I think the transcript shows I was rather reserved when accosted by her and that I left before the conversation rose to the level of a personal attack. I simply questioned her about the policy of the store. If I were tasked with enforcing rules for a faceless beaurocratic mess of an evil multinational corporation, I know I’d make a point of knowing the reasoning behind the rules I was defending, and I’d be able to articulate a) the rationale behind them and b) why I felt comfortable enforcing them. Certainly, she would have preferred I hadn’t, but this hardly constitutes an assault.
As to the store being “private property,” I have to disagree. The store became a public place when it hung its shingle and invited me in to spend my money on its crap. I neither caused damage to property or caused a scene (in fact, no other customers heard the exchange between myself and the security guard, so not even her pride should have been hurt). Taking photographs is not illegal in this context. If I cared that much about it (and I obviously don’t), I’d feel comfortable going to court on this issue and am confident I’d win.
That said, your point is well taken. Sure, the store can make their own policies, but to what extent can they do so? Though I’d hardly feel comfortable comparing what I went through to civil rights battles, you can see the slippery slope a store can get into when they make arbitrary rules to remove any customer they choose (note the spelling: the present tense of the verb is “choose,” not “chose”). You say you’d have told me to leave for taking pictures, so I’d love to hear your defense of the policy, which is all I ever wanted to begin with.
But I think you miss my other points as well. Namely, though you can never find anyone knowledgeable (or kind, or even present, for that matter) to help you find something in the store, you sure can always find a security guard to give you grief. Toys “R” Us clearly cares much more about protecting their property (and, evidently, images of their property) then they are about caring for the customer with actual service. I find this fairly disgusting.
At any rate, I’ll just close by questioning your admonition for me to “get a life.” While it’s true that I might perhaps make better use of my time than I did by going into Toys “R” Us (you’ll get no argument from me on that count) or writing it up on my personal blog, what does it say about someone who has nothing better to do than to read the darn thing and launch an anonymous attack on the author in defense of a corporation that hardly needs the help?
I could, perhaps, just “tell you to leave” (in this context, delete your comment), but I made this blog public when I allowed comments, so I won’t do that. I’d rather engage in dialogue than simply silencing without reason. That’s just one of the many differences between me and Toys “R” Us.
Joe Moser 2:15 pm on October 27, 2005 Permalink | Log in to Reply
As an academic interested gender studies, I found this witty expose of Toyz Arr Us, or whatever they call themselves, damned insightful.
Up to this point, I’ve never had a particular beef with this megachain, but now they’re officially on my shitlist.
I will now confine my shopping (for other people’s kids) to Target, which as far as I know is a very responsible and philanthropic corporation. Unfortunately, it’s not very accessible to those in the Boston area.
Anyway, I appreciated this post a great deal, and I hope the anonymous haters henceforth confine their ire and ignorance to the discussion boards on imdb.com, which is the only place their claptrap belongs.
–Joe–>
becs 1:07 pm on October 13, 2006 Permalink | Log in to Reply
A shop is a private property and by opening their doors to you they are inviting you in. They can have you removed at any time.
As for the photography thing, I always ask the shop if I am allowed to take photos, if they say no then thats fine. Although if I was trying to expose something I would photograph secretly 🙂