toys

If you know even one kid, you already know they’re more than a stereotype of their gender with a myriad of interests—so why don’t toy manufacturers and ad executives acknowledge this?

Yup, that’s right. The folks at the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood scoured the toy aisles and found (what they feel are) the top five most offensive toys, and will present the TOADY (Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young children) Award to the one that takes home the (dis)honor of Worst Toy of the Year.

Click here to check out the five finalists and VOTE!

If I had a chance to nominate some toys, here’s just a few that would have made my list.

I'm not a fan of McDonald's for a variety of reasons, but beyond their tasty unhealthy food they are a perfect example of how marketing has changed over the years to further push gender stereotypes upon consumers.

As soon as I chanced upon Cotton Monster, I felt like I'd been waiting all my life for toys, art, and eyeballs to intersect.

Remember our Douchebag Decree recipient, Monster High? Prepare yourselves, because things are about to get weird. Mattel has announced a partnership between Monster High and the anti-bullying Kind Campaign:

Monster High™, Mattel’s popular tween and teen-targeted franchise, which encourages girls to celebrate their imperfections and embrace those of others, today announced that it is partnering with the Kind Campaign, a movement, documentary and school program dedicated to spreading the message of kindness. [...] "The Monster High brand uses the monster metaphor to show girls that it is ok to be different and that our unique differences should be celebrated," said Lori Pantel, VP Marketing, Global Mattel Girls Brands. "We see our partnership with Kind Campaign as a natural fit because their message of kindness and acceptance goes hand-in-hand with the Monster High brand’s message to embrace our own and each other’s imperfections."

Uh... it does?

Sometimes, products are all the more disappointing when they sounded pretty cool at first.

Case in point: Mattel's blockbuster franchise, Monster High. This series of dolls is centered around the children (mostly daughters) of werewolves, mummies and other classic beasties of horror tales. When speaking about the franchise to the New York Times, Tim Kilpin of Mattel said, "Who doesn't feel like a freak in high school? It started with that universal truth." Of course, high schoolers aren't Mattel's target market; in fact, most Monster High products are officially listed as "Age 6-8." Still, dolls that promote not buying into superficial mainstream standards would be neat, right?

Yeah, they would. Too bad that's not what's happening here.

Alarming pics and video after the jump!

Vote for worst toy of the year!

Saturday morning cartoons was a rite of passage for many of us growing up in the USA in the 1980s. Smurfs, Transformers and even the WWF cartoon was on the docket each weekend. Yes, each of them were platforms for selling us cereal and toys, but it still stinks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are a gadzillion reasons why I'm not a fan of Barbie dolls, and they all apply to the new Lt. Uhura doll, part of Mattel's upcoming Barbie Doll line being released in conjunction with J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek film.  But there's also a hilariously awesome reason to love these dolls: fanboys are freaking out that they make Star Trek too girlie. 

More after the jump!