Products zoom in on gender.

Byline: Patrick Kampert

In England, the Nestle candy company has unveiled the Blokie, a candy bar aimed straight at boys as part of its "Not for Girls" campaign. You won't be finding the Blokie on these shores, according to Nestle USA. But look around your favorite store, where increasing numbers of marketers are staking out the gender turf.

Nivea has set its sights on the masculine market with a line of toiletries called Nivea for Men, including Revitalizing Lotion Q10, which contains some of the same key ingredients as its wrinkle-control products for women.

The line of distinctive, gender-based products even extends to the bread shelves.

French Meadow Bakery of Minneapolis, whose products are available at Whole Foods Markets and health-food stores in the Chicago area, has launched Men's Bread, tailored to male health concerns. The bread is a follow-up to the bakery's Woman's Bread, which hit shelves in 1999. Woman's Bread is chock-full of soy isoflavones, low-carb fiber, flaxseed, sprouted grains and cranberry _ and it's yeast-free.

"I created it based on my own needs as a woman," said Lynn Gordon, founder and president.

According to Paco Underhill, author of "Why We Buy" and the upcoming "The Call of the Mall" (Simon & Schuster), sex-specific products are on the rise because marketing increasingly involves razor-thin niches _ and, paradoxically, because many products are becoming gender-neutral.