Trends 1
A Current Trend in Toys:
First Draft
American producers have a special interest in children. Sincechildren will eventually be adult consumers, toy manufacturers would liketo prepare them to accept their own future circumstances. These peopleare elaborating on the thoughts and fears with which children are alreadyfamiliar, thereby conditioning young America in anticipation of a nuclearand chemically dominated society.
Modern-day producers frequently have footholds and loyalties innumerous companies. This distribution of interests often includes variousunrelated companies and products. Toy manufacturers, for instance, mayalso be involved in the manufacturing of adult-directed products.Therefore, producers want to relay certain ideas to the impressionableminds of youth. They want these adults of the future to accepteffortlessly any bizarre products, production materials and social orenvironmental changes of the future. Children’s social and environmentalacceptance is essential to the producers because they create new productson the premise of social and environmental demand.
The materials used in children’s toys make very blatant ecologicalstatements. An overwhelming majority of these toys are plastic. Plasticsare even the predominant materials in the traditional, basic learningtoys. Children used to play with natural, wooden toys, such as buildingblocks and Lincoln Logs. These days, however, Legos and other brightlycolored plastics are more popular among the younger generation. Producersare creating an acceptance of plastics among these future consumers. Evenreligious practices that ideally require only the concern of one’s soulhave become materialistic in this marketing trend. Children can practiceidolatry with toys that represent biblical characters. Mattel, forexample, provides youngsters with figurines of Moses and David. With suchplastic toys, this nation’s producers are perpetuating and increasing thealready astonishing demand by United States citizens for crude oil and oilproducts. This persuasive initiative concerning consumption is taken inself-interest by producers. They are creating security via a perpetuatingmarket.
The types of plastics in toys also provide foresight for theexpected environmental horrors of the future. Dayglow colors are highlyreminiscent of hazardous radioactive material. Many toys that are plasticor that comprise oil-produced textiles, such as polyester, have ties withchemical ideology. Many toys have chemically suggestive features. Someof these unnaturally bright colored juvenile entertainers do such thingsas change colors. For example, a My Little Pony will change shades whenimmersed in lukewarm water. This is a direct statement of chemicalingenuity and fascination. Presentating young America with horriblechemical materials are preparing them and creating a dependance for theanticipated ecologically threatening ways of the future.
Not only are producers preparing children through materials, butthrough imaginary characters also. The prevalence of toxic wastes andradioactive energies suggests many things, such as uncontrollable cancers.Coupling such expectations with the very marketable imaginations ofchildren results in mutations and weird species that have evolved to adaptto such hazardous environments. Skeletor, for example, is a figurerepresenting a living death. His character may directly refer to the slowand agonizing death that is a reaction to nuclear exposure. Notsurprisingly, the same toys that include dayglow features and changingcolors are those that are geneologically unique. Skeletor’s face isneon-green, as are the Wuzzles in their entirety. Producers present thesein an acceptable manner, but the themes are still prevalent.
Adults accept these toys because the toys are presented in termsthey approve innately. The sexual stereotypes are maintained in thesetoys, and the creative ideas suggest the stimulation of one’s imagination.Although He-Man and She-Ra have rather contemporary personalities, theirown sexual roles coincide with traditional expectations. Other toys, likeWuzzles, seem to provide invigorating creativity to the growing minds ofyouth. Children, on the other hand, accept the ideological propagandabecause they are already familiar with them. Children have alreadylearned to deal with nightmarish mutants and psychologically frustratingcharacters. They are already aware of their difficulties with thetroubled adult world. In short, these toys are not only preparing thenext generation for such different worldly settings but are actuallyrooted in their own fears and expectations.
Producers of our children’s toys would like to see the children ofthis generation casually accept the expected environmental changes, bothnaturally and socially, of years to come. The toy manufacturers canaccomplish this by letting children become accustomed to certain aspectsof these anticipated circumstances before they are thinking critically ona regular basis. These impending changes are equally startling andfrightening to the adult world today. By taking such a selfish positionin doing these things, the producers are perpetuating an undesirable wayof living. In fact, because of their self-interest, many manufacturers ofthis country are increasing the degree of unfavorable characteristics inthe influential yet vulnerable human behavior cycle.