(AP) In a season that inspires earnest letters about toys, one notable batch is being sent not by kids to Santa's workshop, but by parents to the executive suites of real-world toy makers. The message: Please, in these days of economic angst, cut back on marketing your products directly to our children. The letter-writing initiative was launched by the Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, which says roughly 1,400 of its members and supporters have contacted 24 leading toy companies and retailers to express concern about ads aimed at kids. "Unfortunately, I will not be able to purchase many of the toys that my sons have asked for; we simply don't have the money," wrote Todd Helmkamp of Hudson, Ind. "By bombarding them with advertisements ... you are placing parents like me in the unenviable position of having to tell our children that we can't afford the toys you promote." The Toy Industry Association has responded with a firm defense of current marketing practices, asserting that children "are a vital part of the gift selection process." "If children are not aware of what is new and available, how will they be able to tell their families what their preferences are?" an industry statement said. "While there is certainly greater economic disturbance going on now, families have always faced different levels of economic well-being and have managed to tailor their spending to their means."
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So parents write to company asking them to stop marketing junk to their kids?? How about just turning off the friggin' tv?? If parents didn't park their kids in front of Nickelodeon or whatever cartoon channel is popular at the moment, maybe the little ones wouldn't be begging for a ..um...what is the popular toy this year? I have no idea, and neither does Little Sis. Why? Because we only pick up ONE, yes ONE tv channel. (And that one will be gone with the big changeover in Feb? March? I don't know and don't really care.)
Sure, she sprints out of bed every Saturday morning to catch her favorite cartoon (Horseland, if you can believe it) but she doesn't sit and watch all the silly commercials. If she wants to park her keister in front of the tv half of Saturday morning, she still has to get her chores done, so she does them during the commercials.
As a matter of fact, we've only had the one channel for about a year now. I finally broke down last year and installed the rabbit ears so we could watch Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. So, for those three tv-less years, we actually had to go to the toy store so she could see what was available. Half of the stuff we'd never even heard of. What the heck is with those bobble headed, half naked, hooker Bratz dolls, anyhoo?
So, you are probably wondering, what does the commercial-free child ask for during the holidays? Little Sis wants a horse (NOT happening), horse riding lessons (maybe for her birthday in the summer), horse stuff for her room (recently redecorated in horses, so Santa will mostly likely bend to that one), and books...lots of books (Santa's bag is full of 'em!). Big Sis can't decide what she wants. She has a job and buys most of her own things now, so there's not much that she wants that she doesn't already own, or has decided is not worth the expense.
Oh, yeah, back to the subject, how about if the parents just told the little varmints "NO!"? It really isn't necessary for kids to have absolutely everything they ask for. Older kids that throw tantrums over not getting a certain toy, that they will play with for exactly 1.345 weeks and then forget about, should be sent to do some community service at the local homeless or domestic violence shelter.
One of the many issues on which my family (by which I mean parents, brothers, etc) and I differ is that children do NOT need the 'toy of the moment' (furbies, cabbage patch dolls, whatever). After all, these toys are only the 'must have' toys because the media tell us so, and demand exceeds supply. Find the exact same toy after Christmas, and you'll get a "ho-hum, that was sooo last season".
A closing message to the whiny parents involved in the letter writing campaign: since your budget is so tight, and you are upset you can't afford toy x for your child, it is not only time to turn off the tv (thereby cutting back on your electric bill), but time to sever your cable/satellite connection, thereby freeing up most likely hundreds of dollars a month to put toward a rainy day, and NOT toward toy x. And all those overtime hours you no longer have to work to pay for cable/satellite and electric, you can now spend with your child, playing games and teaching them to use their imagination!
Ok, rant over, I'm getting off my soap box now. I hope everyone had as wonderful a Thanksgiving as we did.
