AWM's Response to Nintendo Ad

Date: Tue, 22 May 2001
Subject: An ad for Nintendo
To: lenhart@math.utk.edu
From: "Martin Magid"

Dear Professor Lenhart:

I am writing to you because you are President of AWM (of which I am a member.) My ten year old daughter subscribes to the magazine Girl's Life.

When it arrived today she showed me an ad, on page 31, for Mario Party 3, by Nintendo. The ad appears to be a page from a year book. There are 10 complete pictures and two partial pictures. Three of the 10 full pictures are girls. Two of the girls are cute; their captions read "JV Cheerleading, French Club" and "Basketball, Drama Club". The third girl is not attractive; her caption reads "Band, Math Club".

This is, to me, every bit as bad as what Mattel had Barbie saying several years ago. I know that AWM was involved in trying to get Mattel to change Barbie's comments and I would like to pressure Nintendo to change the ad. Can you tell me how I might go about doing this?

Thanks for your help.
Marty

Martin Magid
Department of Mathematics
Wellesley College
Wellesley MA, 02481
mmagid@wellesley.edu

June 6, 2001

Ms. Perrin Kaplan
Vice President, Corporate Affairs
Nintendo of America, Inc.
4820 150th Avenue, NE
Redmond, WA 98052

Dear Ms. Kaplan:

We, the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM), are highly dismayed by the recent advertisement by Nintendo which ran in the June-July 2001 issue of Girls' Life magazine. The advertisement appears to be a page from a school yearbook. Three girls are featured in the 10 full photographs; the photograph of the girl with the caption, ``Band, Math Club, " is not attractive. The attractive photographs of two other girls have captions, ``JV Cheerleading, French Club" and ``Basketball, Drama Club."

Young women have a long history of seeing themselves as lacking mathematical ability, and of seeing mathematics as ``unfeminine" and ``unattractive." This leads many girls to turn their backs on mathematics, which in turn cuts them off from a world of opportunities which might otherwise be open to them. The Association for Women in Mathematics, along with many other groups with similar concerns, are engaged in massive efforts to counteract this image, and to replace it with an understanding that mathematics is enjoyable, accessible and not ``uncool." The advertisement in question is a hindrance to those efforts.

The AWM feels strongly that this particular advertisement should be withdrawn or immediately edited in all media (print and electronic) that are slated to run this advertisement.

If you would like to discuss this matter further, feel free to contact me at 865-974-4270 or lenhart@math.utk.edu.

Sincerely,

Suzanne Lenhart
AWM President

cc:
Kelly A. White, Executive Editor, Girls' Life Magazine
Robert Thompson, Customer Service, Nintendo of America, Inc.