Hello fellow history enjoyers,
Ned Neuron here — your tour guide through history’s dumbest ideas that accidentally made billions.
Today’s story begins with a baby.
A tiny, innocent, non-tax-paying baby.
And the first question society asked wasn’t:
“Is it healthy?”
or
“What should we name it?”
No.
It was:
👉 “Pink or blue?”
And that question?
That question is a scam.
Let’s ruin it.
👶 Babies used to not care (and adults didn’t either)
Before the 1800s, babies didn’t have “boy colors” or “girl colors.”
They mostly wore:
white
linen
whatever survived boiling water
Why?
Because white was easy to bleach, clean, and reuse.
Fashion back then cared about:
class
fabric
showing off wealth
Not gender.
Men wore pink.
Men wore flowers.
Men wore heels.
History was absolutely unhinged.
🔄 Plot twist — pink used to be for boys
By the late 1800s and early 1900s, people did start assigning colors.
And they got it… backwards.
Many stores and magazines said:
Pink = boys
(because it was “light red,” and red meant strength, blood, war, masculinity)Blue = girls
(calm, gentle, holy, Virgin Mary vibes)
Yes.
Your great-grandpa could’ve worn pink and nobody would’ve blinked.
The past is wild.
💰 Capitalism enters the nursery
Then retailers noticed something horrifying.
Parents were committing a crime.
They were reusing baby clothes.
Hand-me-downs.
Sharing outfits.
Passing clothes to the next kid.
Retailers gasped.
Marketing departments screamed.
And capitalism whispered:
“What if… we made that weird?”
🧠 The genius (evil) idea
If:
baby clothes are neutral → parents reuse them
baby clothes are gendered → parents rebuy everything
Same baby.
Same fabric.
Same onesie.
Two colors.
Twice the money.
Marketing looked at babies and said:
“You don’t have opinions yet… perfect.”
🛍️ They didn’t yell — they organized
This wasn’t loud propaganda.
It was quiet.
Professional.
Corporate.
Stores simply did things like:
“Boys” aisles (blue)
“Girls” aisles (pink)
tags saying “proper colors”
No arguments.
No debates.
Just:
“This is how it’s done.”
And humans love defaults.
📺 Everyone copied everyone
Once big stores did it:
manufacturers followed
catalogs matched
magazines repeated it
ads reinforced it
Not coordinated.
Just profitable.
By the 1950s:
Pink = girls
Blue = boys
Boom.
Rule locked in.
🧍♂️ Society did the marketing for free
This is the funniest part.
Once it felt “normal,” companies didn’t even need to push it anymore.
People enforced it themselves:
relatives
friends
strangers
comments like
“You can’t put him in that…”
Congratulations.
You are now unpaid marketing labor.
🤡 The irony
Pink wasn’t “naturally feminine.”
Blue wasn’t “biologically masculine.”
They were assigned.
Just like:
razors
shampoos
toys
literally everything else
Capitalism didn’t care about gender.
It cared about repeat purchases.
🧠 The real lesson (sneaky but important)
This story isn’t about colors.
It’s about how:
habits feel ancient
norms feel natural
money quietly shapes culture
No conspiracy.
No villain monologue.
Just:
“Oh wow… this makes more money.”
History’s favorite sentence.
🎁 YOUR CALL TO ACTION (DO THE THING)
If this made you laugh, learn something, or side-eye baby showers just a little:
👉 Forward this to a friend
👉 Subscribe to GiiggleGuru
👉 Reply and tell me what history moment I should ruin next
Because history is wild.
And someone needs to explain it badly — on purpose.
— Ned Neuron 🧠