Tied up with a bow?

Tied up with a bow?

The popularity of the Hunger Games series, with its books, movies, and righteous warrior Katniss Everdeen, has proved irresistible to toy marketers’ quarry: girls. 

Toymakers are finding pinkified soft-core weaponry to be a bull’s-eye hit among would-be Dianas. Marketed under names like Air Huntress, Heartbreaker, and Rebelle, these slingshots, bow-and-arrow sets, and pump-action marshmallow shooters reflect an era post Title IX, says Hasbro. Or they point to a more aggressive—and aggressive marketing of—youth culture. Whether we’ll see an uptick in actual archery or hunting is too soon to say. —Diane Richard, writer, March 27

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Image: Gretchen Ertl for The New York Times

Source: HILARY STOUT and ELIZABETH A. HARRIS “Today’s Girls Love Pink Bows as Playthings, but These Shoot,” New York Times,March 22