Kids Summer Camp & Niche Gender Marketing: Why?

By Amy Jussel • June 16th, 2010

Why do we have to turn summer camp into a marketing opportunity for pink and blue? What’s the matter with plain ol’ grass green and outdoor fun?

Admittedly, I never made it to a ‘traditional camp’ until I was a parent. We moved duty stations during summers, and if we didn’t, we were ‘free range kids,’ amped with self reliance, creative spunk, and behavior tethered by emotional rather than electronic ties to our parents.

Still, I had a media snapshot of what camp would be, part The Parent Trap slumber party mischief and MacGyver resourcefulness packed into life lessons that last.

By the time I made it to camp by chaperoning scouts, eco adventures, and teaching wildlife to brownies, the whole camp thing had shifted to a personal “experience” where kids could track their own interests versus the ‘sampler pack’ approach of ‘do it all, see what sticks.’

One peek at a site like KidsCamps.com and you’ll find every specialized niche market imaginable, from sports, special needs, and academics to Microsoft’s DigiGirlz foray into techno prowess and STEM.

Kind of limiting though, when societal trends towards specialization apply to kids (e.g. some track into “their sport” early on and show up ’seasoned’ by second grade; sheesh; what’s the rush?) Why narrow cast likes and dislikes so early on when kids haven’t even been exposed to a full spectrum of choices?

Seems more like clipping fledgling wings rather than stretching them; especially when it comes to summer camp, the ’sampler pack’ of activities in all kinds of flavors of fun…

Granted, camps are mega buck businesses nowadays with many dual-working parents planning their summer slate in Excel spreadsheet splendor as the New Year begins just ‘to get them in’ to the best offerings so they’re not stuck twiddling thumbs in a lame, less-productive summer camp experience, coughing up cash for a place junior doesn’t even want to be.

But in some ways, it seems like we’re going backwards rather than forwards in child development when “camps” become nothing more than marketing bonanzas and gender divisions that draw fictional lines in the sand between the sexes in “us and them” thinking.

We might as well be “playing war,” in a battle of the sexes. Senseless, I say. Thank gawd I’m not alone…

Melissa Wardy, CEO of PigtailPals, wrote an article recently with her strident, straightforward take on what I call the “scary fairy syndrome”, and as I commented in her original post, “I’m frankly surprised marketers haven’t started hawking ‘pink camping camo and canteens for a ‘girl spin’ on ‘ruggedness’ since it seems nothing can just ‘be’ without a gender defining ‘bow in the hair, long lashes, or other telltale signs of foisted identity into kids’ mindshare. (oops, oh, wait, they have!)

Between obesity issues of kids sitting vs. romping and the pink and blue segmentation of pre-defined gender interests (again, media defining kids before they can define themselves) it’s high time we quit usurping childhood into a “market opportunity segment” and let kids choose through their own love of discovery, exposure to new different scenarios, and choices and opportunities.

If it’s princesses, fine. Pirates, okay…just level the playing field and make a case for make-believe without interfering in the exploration process.

Same gender issues apply with robotics, rocket building, and technology camps…Or cooking, video-producing, or arts endeavors…It doesn’t need to be pink or blue, people!

These are NOT boy VS girl ‘either/or issues,’ they are universally equal interest areas…IF we leave them alone and allow them to choose interests without skewing the focus. Bah.

About the Every Girl, Every Boy Poster: This is my latest purchase from my fave folks at Reach and Teach.com, a peace and social justice learning company advocating for human rights for all. I think you can read it in the size I plopped in, but it leads off: “For every girl who is tired of acting weak when she is strong, there is a boy tired of appearing strong when he feels vulnerable…and goes on to make some poignant points that all of us have seen/heard on playgrounds or in our own lives over the years.

It’s now up on my wall as a reminder that it is NOT an either/or world but an interdependent, inclusive one…The only ‘battle’ is not between the sexes, it is a fight for the hearts and minds of our children, to be free of narrowcast, limited stereotypes that have fouled up many a family over time. Check ‘em out. They’ve got some stellar teaching tools that ’speak the truth’ and open up great conversations.