Pink is plague for girls

London, UK, January 3: Oh the color pink! Most mothers are disturbed by mass marketing strategies, whereby little girls are bombarded with products exhorting them to dress up like Barbie dolls. They are convinced that their daughters are suffering from the ‘pink plague.’

A study of young girls has revealed that most girls from a tender age are obsessed with the shade of pink. Marketers pander to their whims taking advantage of the craze for the blush hue.

Marketing gimmicks have successfully influenced young girls so that a majority of them co-relate the color pink to the all-time favorite doll ‘Barbie.’ Little girls are oblivious to a world beyond pink. A large section is lured into the pink universe that is quickly becoming a ‘rite of passage for a young girl.’

Sue Palmer, author of the book Toxic Childhood, stated that "You can't find girls past the age of three who aren't obsessed with the color. It's just so insidious and it shows how commercial forces can get under their skin even by that age. You can't seem to get anything that's not pink for girls, whether it's clothes, books or toys."

The preference for the color pink is part of a larger problem. It is leading to a widening gender gap that seems to influence the way the girls feel about themselves. Experts feel that girls become ‘hooked’ to the color pink at an early age and deliberately reject merchandise of different shades.

The obsession some girls have for the color is too wide spread for it to be anything but social conditioning. Sue Palmer says "To me, the real danger is the extent to which marketers influence and infiltrate young children's minds. They have managed to infiltrate playground culture where peer pressure is so strong."

The problem does not quite end there. An early immersion in pink encourages an obsession of appearance and body image and female sexuality. As the belief goes, the toys and colors the girls grow up with determine their values as women.

The color is coded to feminine stereotypes. What is troubling is the assumption that girls are so nuts about pink that they can be persuaded to buy anything in that color.

Like Sue Palmer says pink is just a vehicle and it is up to parents to ensure that the girls get the right message at the correct age. She declared “It gets harder to do as they get older, but limiting a 3-year-old's exposure to marketing messages isn't that difficult: turn off the television.”