The Hasbro toy company announced on Tuesday that they would be introducing a new version of the classic Monopoly board game that would give female players certain advantages through gameplay.
In traditional Monopoly, players receive $200 for passing “Go,” each turn around the board. In Ms. Monopoly, female players will get $240 while their male counterparts will still receive the traditional $200. Female participants will also receive a larger stipend at the beginning of the game than the male players. Hasbro, which has touted the game as the first of its kind, said men can still win the game through clever play. They described Ms. Monopoly as “a fun new take on the game that creates a world where women have an advantage often enjoyed by men,” a Hasbro statement said. “But don’t worry, if men play their cards right, they can make more money too.”
Other classic elements of the game have been updated as well. Unlike the original version of the game in which players buy and sell property while charging other players rent, Ms. Monopoly creates financial competition through investments in female-led inventions like chocolate chip cookies and WiFi.
The announcement of Ms. Monopoly comes just weeks after Hasbro released a parody of the original game called “Monopoly Socialism.” In that version, the game seems to make fun of socialism while touting the benefits of capitalism espoused in classic Monopoly. “Get ready for laughs as the twists and turns of life put a damper on working toward a shared, utopian society,” the game description said. “Cooperation isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.”
Monopoly Socialism gave players only $50 for passing “Go,” calling the reduced reward a “living wage.”
Monopoly for Millennials, another parody by Hasbro released last year, similarly poked fun at trends and modern culture. “Adulting is hard, you deserve a break from the rat race,” the board game cover said with a selfie-taking mascot.
Unlike Monopoly for Millennials and Monopoly Socialism, however, Ms. Monopoly does not seem to be an attempt at humor by the board game creators. In a dramatic video released by Hasbro, young women explain their inventions while dismissing the antiquated perception of women. The video concludes with young inventors receiving a gift of Ms. Monopoly and cash to help with their creative future.
“Hasbro created a game that no other game maker has ever done before,” the voice over proudly states at the video’s conclusion. The game’s goal, as stated in the video is to “make a difference” and to celebrate female inventors.
Some women online did not see the new game as beneficial to women but as a possible slight which implied women need a leg-up to win a board game. “I crush it in Monopoly and don’t need your hand-out but thanks for thinking I do,” said New York Post columnist Karol Markowicz.
I crush it in Monopoly and don’t need your hand-out but thanks for thinking I do. https://t.co/VZxlKSS4Kf
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) September 10, 2019
“Wow. Hasbro is perpetuating victimhood through a board game. They’re instilling in young girls that society views them ‘less than’. The pay gap comes from PERSONAL CHOICES made by women…… and they’re calling this game ‘female empowerment,'” said children’s author Lisa Britton.
Wow.
Hasbro is perpetuating victimhood through a board game.
They’re instilling in young girls that society views them ‘less than’.
The pay gap comes from PERSONAL CHOICES made by women.
…… and they’re calling this game ‘female empowerment’ https://t.co/Tzaqaf0n2t
— Lisa Britton (@LisaBritton) September 10, 2019
Ms. Monopoly is the latest attempt by a corporation to placate a perceived hunger for liberal politics through products and advertising. Gillette, which makes razors gels geared for both men and women, came under fire earlier this year after launching a “The Best A Man Can Get” campaign that included advertising some referred to as “virtue signaling.” One ad showed a man teaching his transgender son to shave for the first time. “Whenever, wherever, however it happens — your first shave is special,” a caption for the advertisement read.
Other brands like Victoria’s Secret, Pepsi, and Starbucks have also attempted to use popular, liberal, social justice objectives in their advertising. Like Ms. Monopoly, Secret brand of deodorant also used the notion of a pay gap to market their products.
