I had an interesting experience yesterday with my granddaughter. We had gone to a toy store she loves and when we returned home she asked to go online with me and show me some of the Petshop toys. Then she wanted to show me the videos made by kids like her. I accepted, because I wanted to see what was so fascinating about all this. The videos consist of little girls showing their collection or opening packages from EBay with toys they've ordered. It was repulsive, because this is shopping drama, the complete consumer training ground. And the only thing the girls talked about was their excitement about 3 inch plastic toys. The chatter was indistinguishable. I remained quiet, just listening to my granddaughter's passion for this hobby, which revolves around trading toys, shopping and being glued to inane videos.
What to do? I may talk to her mother about this at some private time, but I don't want to argue with her about the merits of this activity. I asked to stop after a few minutes and we played a card game and drew until I took her home. These little girls use their mother's EBay account to buy these toys, which can be cheap but also very pricy, depending on rarity and age and condition. But it's PLASTIC. It seems to fuel a kind of addiction. My Pretty Ponies of the old days is nothing to this. Marketing and manipulation are the key components of this craze. And the parents, I guess, see it as innocent. I don't.
First there was Disney's deliberate marketing to toddlers with the Princesses craze. Very successful, and now deep in our culture. It began in 2000, and already every little girl has to be a princess, see the videos (endless), have the costumes, toys and books. Fairies is also Disney's market. Trying to find pjs without a Disney princess requires going online and searching high and low. In the stores, children become walking advertisements. This crass use of children needs to stop. Parents need to draw a line. Why don't they? I suppose because their lives are run by consumerism as well, and they don't even notice. Very sad. Very scary.
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