Coles And Boys' Toys

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE tell me what on earth is going on at Coles in Burwood East?

You know, I thought the days of BIG corporations playing to gender stereotypes and casual sexism were pretty much behind us... whooo no.

I went shopping last night. The Burwood East Coles is one of those ENORMOUS sprawling 24-hour supermarkets, and they sell (amongst other things) toys.

But apparently they feel the need to point out that their pink, lacy, Barbie-esque toys (all nicely gathered together here)...

There are "toys"...

... are not, in fact, "BOYS' toys".

Why else would they have a SEPARATE section of toys, with all the superheroes and cars and Nerf guns, labelled "Boys toys"?

...and there are Boys' toys.

(don't get me started on the missing apostrophe. That's a question for another day)

Seriously Coles... what were you thinking?

**updated to add**

Coles initially responded with a fairly bland "That's what we do" tweet...

... but changed their tune after my slightly-more-"influential" (ie: more followers) main Twitter account got involved. Go figure.

**updated yet again to add**

And a positive outcome. Coles have pledged to removing the gender-specific signage. Good times!

Would have been nice if they'd admitted that labeling a section of their store for "Boys toys" was WRONG rather than "not necessary" but that may a bridge too far.