After meeting with NJ teen, Hasbro says gender-neutral Easy-Bake Oven is on the way

[The Straight Story]

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Hasbro says it will soon reveal a gender-neutral Easy-Bake Oven after meeting with a New Jersey girl who started a campaign calling on the toy maker to make one that appeals to all kids.

McKenna Pope, 13, of Garfield, N.J., got more than 40,000 signatures on her online petition at Change.org and the support of celebrity chefs including Bobby Flay, who backed her call for Hasbro to make a gender-neutral oven and to include boys in the ads.

She was prompted to start the petition after shopping for an Easy-Bake as a Christmas present for her 4-year-old brother, Gavyn Boscio, and finding them only in purple and pink.

Hasbro invited McKenna and her family to its Pawtucket, R.I., headquarters to meet with its Easy-Bake team, and on Monday, they drove to Rhode Island from New Jersey. During the meeting, Hasbro executives showed off a prototype of their newest Easy-Bake: one that's black, silver and blue.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/nj-girl-meet-hasbro-easy-bake-boys

[Panasonic]

1. Brilliant.

My son loves to cook (we are actually sending him to a cooking class starting next month) and he is three years old. We just might get that!

[Sekhmets Daughter]

3. Excellent.

My son asked me to teach him how to make his favorite meals before he left for college. His girlfriends were always impressed.

[KaryninMiami]

2. Thanks for this- a nice, light smile story!

Need more of these this week. Hasbro- thanks to you too- a little behind the times but its ok.

[joeybee12]

4. I am shocked I tell you...shocked!

I didn't know they made these anymore!

[sheshe2]

5. Way to go McKenna!

At 13 years old she is leading the way.

She and others like her...Our Future!

[AnnieBW]

6. Great!

It's not like about half of the chefs on the Food Network are MEN. Good for Bobby Flay and McKenna!

[Odin2005]

7. YAY!!!

[bongbong]

8. I learned to cook

On my mother's antique toy stove she had from the 1920s. Guess what a "toy" stove from the 1920s looked like?

Let me put it this way: you didn't need to change any recipe or procedure to cook food whose only difference from "real" food was the portion size.

[4_TN_TITANS]

9. This only makes business sense.

I am one of those boys who loved to cook, but never touched sis's easy bake - too girly. I learned on the real equipment.

[Yavin4]

10. Aren't Easy-Bake Ovens Illegal?

Aren't they too dangerous for kids?