Easy-Bake Oven going gender-neutral

PAWTUCKET, R.I., Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Rhode Island-based toymaker Hasbro said it will include boys in the marketing for Easy-Bake Ovens after meeting with a 13-year-old girl.

McKenna Pope, 13, won an audience with Hasbro officials after she received more than 40,000 signatures on hr Change.org petition and received the endorsement of celebrity chef Bobby Flay for her campaign to have Easy-Bake Ovens marketed to children of both genders, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.

Pope said she was inspired by her brother, Gavyn Boscio, 4, who loves to bake but fears to play with an Easy-Bake Oven because it's a "girl" toy.

Hasbro officials said at the Monday meeting Gavyn will be able to play with a gender-neutral version of the oven, which will be marketed to both sexes, starting in the fall of 2013.

The new Easy-Bake Oven will have its debut at the New York Toy Fair in February, Hasbro said.