I travel a great deal. I shop a lot. I love chocolate. How is it that the Yorkie bar had eluded me all these years? I noticed this bar at the greengrocer’s. The wrapper says that ‘It’s not for girls’. What’s that all about? I conducted some research and learned a lot about it. All silly-billy really. I am liberal in my humour, so it does not offend me. It’s just that I worry about those who do not see the fun in this type of gender segregation. There are youngsters out there who suffer daily torments about their place in society. Families have teenagers who go to bed, teary-eyed, wondering about justice, equality, fairness, and love. Way too much pressure from some clans who complicate things in relation to who can do what, and why. Often, gender plays a big part in family struggles. Pink for girls. Blue for boys. Ballet for her, and football for him. All predictably magnetic.
It does not worry me in the least that someone wants to score cheap laughs with product names. I am just speaking up for the poor people whose lives are complicated by serious ‘isms’ such as chauvinism, racism, and sexism.
Funnily enough, it has been suggested that the Yorkie chocolate bar contains so much sugar and fat, that no girl would want so many calories. Maybe blokes don’t mind being fat and unhealthy. There you go, making assumptions.
Fair enough; there might be tradition and history to the Yorkie bar. But pray tell, what’s this ice-cream all about? The photo below was taken at a Melbourne ice-cream store. The tub with the pink heart is labelled, ‘Just for girls’. No idea why. The store interested me because upon entry, the music was most unbecoming of any retail establishment. I asked the attendant (I had to yell it out) to tell me who chooses the music. She said, ‘When the boss is away, we can play whatever we like.’ I wonder if the boss also lets her change the ingredients? We live in a world of multimedia, yet staff members seem to think that store-music is for their own amusement… something to while away the boring hours.
P.S. I finally succumbed and opened the wrapper and tasted the chocolate. My first thought was that it is overly sweet, almost sickly sweet. More like eating pure caramel. My second thought was that the term ‘Not for girls’ could have come as a put-down when someone said to the inventor, ‘Hey this is too sweet’, and the retort was, ‘Don’t be such a girl’. Sometimes, friends and colleagues browbeat people into submission, by insulting their opinion.
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