While viewing TV last week, I spotted an advert promoting pink Pritt Sticks – “just for girls”. I found myself thinking ‘uh... do we really need pink glue sticks?’ As a mother of two small boys, I’m fortunate in avoiding the endless pink promotion and the resulting ‘pester power’ to purchase pink products (instead, my boys like guns... sigh!). However, I can see why my friend, Jacqueline – a mum of a four year old girl – is annoyed by the constant fixation on this colour and the conditioning of females into the idea that they should ‘think pink’.

Recently, a backlash has occurred against the proliferation of pink children’s goods, led by the likes of the ‘Pink Stinks’ campaign. This campaign focuses on the idea that young girls should be given “real role models” and not be force-fed a “culture of pinkness” based around tales of princesses who eventually marry handsome princes (hardly a likely life progression these days!), combined with the promotion of body obsession and shallow concepts of ‘girliness’. The blame clearly lies with marketers who keep proffering their pink goods and messages. Pink Stinks intends to persuade offending companies to change their errant ways and act more responsibly.

I beg to agree. Amongst young girls of my acquaintance, it’s all too easy to spot the signs of pink obsession and “princess syndrome”. Do we really want them growing up with the idea that they’ll win a future ‘ X-Factor’ in a pair of pink hot pants and turn into Hannah Montana – money for nothing and your chick lifestyle for free?

When I was a little girl back in the 1970s, there wasn’t much need to worry about personal styling except for combing Sindy’s hair, putting her on the Sindy horse (with groomed mane and tail, of course), and dressing Barbie in a new outfit. I don’t recall there being a “set of Barbie ‘Fashionista’ dolls to collect” – all sold with pink outfits – nor did we sit in our pink bedrooms covering ourselves in pink eye shadow and pink nail varnish at the tender age of seven.

A misguided Stateside mum has even invented ‘squishy’ high heels for infants, including a bright cerise pair. Although she describes the product it as “just fun”, this is the sort of ‘pink brained’ stupidity that also sees celebs installing lapdogs with diamante collars in their handbags. Even by the age of 10, my peer group of 70s’ girls wouldn’t be concerned with cerise stilettos. No, not at all: we were outside building dens, riding our bikes (of various colour themes) and most definitely not turning into obese lumps playing indoors on our pink PS3s. I think the current fixation amongst pre-teens for ‘sexy’ fashions and makeup is unhealthy, and I’m hardly known for my prudish tendencies.

In 2007, research found that hardware manufacturers were struggling to market pink and gem-encrusted tech toys to women. The chick consumers didn’t want these pink-themed items and felt that their needs and interests weren’t being met by marketers. But, then again, they probably weren’t bombarded with pink and gem-encrusted goods from the age of zero and had a fair choice to make up their own minds about female preferences and inclinations, instead of being encouraged to make themselves up in head-to-toe pink clothes, shoes and slap and to live in a pink-themed environment.

Parents and kids alike, do we really have to be so gullible and have a mono palette of colour? For those who don’t want to choose blue, green, red or yellow, there’s always purple!