Want to be an activist? Start with your toys
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0:01 - 0:03I'm McKenna Pope. I'm 14 years old,
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0:03 - 0:05and when I was 13, I convinced
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0:05 - 0:07one of the largest toy companies,
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0:07 - 0:09toymakers, in the world, Hasbro,
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0:09 - 0:11to change the way that they marketed
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0:11 - 0:13one of their most best-selling products.
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0:13 - 0:15So allow me to tell you about it.
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0:15 - 0:16So I have a brother, Gavin.
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0:16 - 0:19When this whole shebang happened, he was four.
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0:19 - 0:20He loved to cook.
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0:20 - 0:23He was always getting ingredients out of the fridge
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0:23 - 0:25and mixing them into these, needless to say,
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0:25 - 0:26uneatable concoctions,
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0:26 - 0:29or making invisible macaroni and cheese.
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0:29 - 0:32He wanted to be a chef really badly.
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0:32 - 0:36And so what better gift for a kid
who wanted to be a chef -
0:36 - 0:38than an Easy-Bake Oven. Right?
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0:38 - 0:40I mean, we all had those when we were little.
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0:40 - 0:42And he wanted one so badly.
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0:42 - 0:45But then he started to realize something.
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0:45 - 0:48In the commercials, and on the
boxes for the Easy-Bake Ovens, -
0:48 - 0:51Hasbro marketed them specifically to girls.
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0:51 - 0:53And the way that they did this
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0:53 - 0:56was they would only feature girls
on the boxes or in the commercials, -
0:56 - 0:58and there would be flowery prints all over the ovens
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0:58 - 1:01and it would be in bright pink and purple,
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1:01 - 1:05very gender-specific colors to females, right?
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1:05 - 1:07So it kind of was sending a message
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1:07 - 1:10that only girls are supposed to cook; boys aren't.
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1:10 - 1:12And this discouraged my brother a lot.
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1:12 - 1:15He thought that he wasn't
supposed to want to be a chef, -
1:15 - 1:17because that was something that girls did.
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1:17 - 1:19Girls cooked; boys didn't,
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1:19 - 1:21or so was the message that Hasbro was sending.
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1:21 - 1:23And this got me thinking,
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1:23 - 1:25God, I wish there was a way that I could change this,
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1:25 - 1:28that could I have my voice heard by Hasbro
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1:28 - 1:30so I could ask them and tell them
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1:30 - 1:31what they were doing wrong
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1:31 - 1:33and ask them to change it.
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1:33 - 1:35And that got me thinking about a website
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1:35 - 1:36that I had learned about a few months prior
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1:36 - 1:38called Change.org.
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1:38 - 1:41Change.org is an online petition-sharing platform
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1:41 - 1:43where you can create a petition and share it
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1:43 - 1:46across all of these social media networks,
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1:46 - 1:47through Facebook, through Twitter,
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1:47 - 1:49through YouTube, through Reddit, through Tumblr,
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1:49 - 1:51through whatever you can think of.
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1:51 - 1:52And so I created a petition
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1:52 - 1:56along with the YouTube video
that I added to the petition -
1:56 - 1:58basically asking Hasbro
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1:58 - 2:00to change the way that they marketed it,
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2:00 - 2:03in featuring boys in the commercials, on the boxes,
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2:03 - 2:05and most of all creating them
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2:05 - 2:08in less gender-specific colors.
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2:08 - 2:11So this petition started to take off --
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2:11 - 2:14humongously fast, you have no idea.
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2:14 - 2:18I was getting interviewed by
all these national news outlets -
2:18 - 2:21and press outlets, and it was amazing.
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2:21 - 2:24In three weeks, maybe three and a half,
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2:24 - 2:29I had 46,000 signatures on this petition.
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2:29 - 2:31(Applause)
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2:31 - 2:33Thank you.
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2:33 - 2:35So, needless to say, it was crazy.
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2:35 - 2:40Eventually, Hasbro themselves
invited me to their headquarters -
2:40 - 2:41so they could go and unveil
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2:41 - 2:44their new Easy-Bake Oven product to me
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2:44 - 2:46in black, silver and blue.
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2:46 - 2:48It was literally one of the best moments of my life.
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2:48 - 2:51It was like "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."
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2:51 - 2:52That thing was amazing.
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2:52 - 2:54What I didn't realize at the time, however,
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2:54 - 2:56was that I had become an activist,
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2:56 - 2:58I could change something,
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2:58 - 3:01that even as a kid, or maybe
even especially as a kid, -
3:01 - 3:03my voice mattered, and your voice matters too.
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3:03 - 3:05I want to let you know it's not going to be easy,
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3:05 - 3:06and it wasn't easy for me,
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3:06 - 3:09because I faced a lot of obstacles.
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3:09 - 3:13People online, and sometimes even in real life,
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3:13 - 3:16were disrespectful to me and my family,
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3:16 - 3:19and talked about how the whole
thing was a waste of time, -
3:19 - 3:20and it really discouraged me.
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3:20 - 3:23And actually, I have some examples,
because what's better revenge -
3:23 - 3:26than displaying their idiocy?
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3:26 - 3:28So, let's see.
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3:28 - 3:30From user name Liquidsore29 --
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3:30 - 3:32interesting user names we have here—
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3:32 - 3:38"Disgusting liberal moms making their sons gay."
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3:38 - 3:41Liquidsore29, really? Really? Okay.
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3:41 - 3:45How about from Whiteboy77AGS:
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3:45 - 3:49"People always need something
to (female dog) about." -
3:49 - 3:51From Jeffrey Gutierrez:
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3:51 - 3:54"OMG, shut up. You just want money and attention."
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3:54 - 3:56So it was comments like these
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3:56 - 3:59that really discouraged me from
wanting to make change in the future -
3:59 - 4:02because I thought, people don't care,
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4:02 - 4:04people think it's a waste of time,
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4:04 - 4:08and people are going to be disrespectful
to me and my family. -
4:08 - 4:10It hurt me, and it made me think,
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4:10 - 4:13what's the point of making change in the future?
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4:13 - 4:15But then I started to realize something.
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4:15 - 4:18Haters gonna hate.
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4:18 - 4:20Come on, say it with me. One, two, three:
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4:20 - 4:22Haters gonna hate.
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4:22 - 4:24So let your haters hate,
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4:24 - 4:26you know what, and make your change,
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4:26 - 4:28because I know you can.
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4:28 - 4:29I look out into this crowd,
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4:29 - 4:31and I see 400 people
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4:31 - 4:34who came out because they wanted to know
how they could make a change, -
4:34 - 4:37and I know that you can, and all
of you watching at home can too -
4:37 - 4:41because you have so much that you
can do and that you believe in, -
4:41 - 4:44and you can trade it across all these social media,
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4:44 - 4:46through Facebook, through Twitter, through
YouTube, through Reddit, through Tumblr, -
4:46 - 4:48through whatever else you can think of.
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4:48 - 4:50And you can make that change.
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4:50 - 4:51You can take what you believe in
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4:51 - 4:54and turn it into a cause and change it.
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4:54 - 4:57And that spark that you've been
hearing about all day today, -
4:57 - 4:59you can use that spark that you have within you
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4:59 - 5:01and turn it into a fire.
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5:01 - 5:03Thank you.
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5:03 - 5:05(Applause)
- Title:
- Want to be an activist? Start with your toys
- Speaker:
- McKenna Pope
- Description:
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McKenna Pope's younger brother loved to cook, but he worried about using an Easy-Bake Oven -- because it was a toy for girls. So at age 13, Pope started an online petition for the American toy company Hasbro to change the pink-and-purple color scheme on the classic toy and incorporate boys into its TV marketing. In a heartening talk, Pope makes the case for gender-neutral toys and gives a rousing call to action to all kids who feel powerless.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 05:22
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