NEWSJ. Crew Ad of Boy's Pink Toenails Causes Controversy; Would Gwen Stefani Approve?
April 13 2011, Published 7:40 a.m. ET
We've seen Gwen Stefani's son paint his nails and toenails neon yellow, black, red, white and blue, but would neon pink be different? A J. Crew ad has caused quite the stir for showing a mother painting her son's toenails hot pink because it's his favorite color, but some believe it means he'll become gay or transgender.
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Seeing little boys with their nails painted is nothing new to Gwen fans, since her son Kingston Rossdale has his nails painted in a variety of colors all the time .
But a new photo of J. Crew's president, Jenna Lyons, painting her sons toenails hot pink has upset some readers.
"Lucky for me, I ended up with a boy whose favorite color is pink," the caption of the photo says. "Toenail painting is way more fun in neon."
Erin Brown of the right-leaning Media Research Center called the ad "blatant propaganda celebrating transgendered children," ABC's Good Morning America reports.
"Not only is Beckett likely to change his favorite color as early as tomorrow, Jenna's indulgence (or encouragement) could make life hard for the boy in the future," Brown wrote. "J. Crew, known for its tasteful and modest clothing, apparently does not mind exploiting Beckett behind the facade of liberal, transgendered identity politics."
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But advocacy groups are fighting back, calling the reaction "ridiculous."
"This is not how the world works and not how children work, and not even how trans advocacy works," Mara Keisling, executive director of National Center for Transgender Equality, said. "Complaints about the ad are totally blown out of proportion. It's just a cute ad with a cute mom-and-son scene and the kid wants to wear pink nail polish... It could be the kid just wants to spend time with his mom."
And we've seen that happened between Gwen and Kingston. They take trips to the nail salon together and sometimes come out with matching colors!
What do you think of the nail polish debate?
