DETROIT – One 8th grader would like to change the way toy company, Hasbro, markets its legendary Easy Bake Oven. She says she's fighting on behalf of her younger brother who loves to cook.
McKenna Pope is just 13 years old, but she sounds like a seasoned veteran in the battle over gender roles. When her 4 year old brother Gavin decided he wanted an Easy Bake Oven, McKenna says she could had trouble finding one that wasn't marketed exclusively to little girls.
"I found it pretty appalling that they did not feature males of any sort in any of their packaging and promotional materials or anything," said McKenna.
The 8th grader took to the internet posting a video on change.org in an effort to get Hasbro, the makers of easy bake oven, to create an oven for both boys and girls. McKenna says this is not the message Hasbro should be sending to kids.
"Why are women in the kitchen and guys are, you know, working? That's basically what Hasbro is saying. Really, is this company that I've grown to love so much would resort to conforming to societal gender rules? Like, I don't see why."
McKenna's mom said she stands behind her daughter's equality campaign. "She's always been an activist. Whenever there's something that she really cares about, she goes all out to make sure that she gets her views across," added mom Erica Boscio
So far, Hasbro had no comment.
Boy wins Easy Bake(r) "Chef of the year" award
--John McCune want "Chef of the Year" award for Easy Bake Oven in 2004
It was in 2004 that a young boy made Easy Bake Oven history.
John McCune, a 9 year-old master baker from Valley Center, Kansas was named the EASY-BAKE 2004 "Chef of the Year" after baking his tempting "EASY-BAKE Carrot Cake," concluding the search for America's best child chef by Hasbro, Inc., the makers of the EASY-BAKE Oven. John was the first (and so far only) boy to ever win the EASY-BAKE "Chef of the Year" contest, which was created in 1998.
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