Saturday, November 27, 2010

Why I Hate Toy Commercials

My kids have fallen victim to the great advertising ploy that is TV.  They are beginning to make me nuts, shouting, "Mom!  Can I have this?" at every commercial.

At first, I responded with a pat, "Hmm... why don't you put it on your Christmas list," but that's not doing anything to quell the onslaught anymore.

Of particular disgust for me are the 12-inch fashion dolls advertised with real "fake" snow.  What??  After cleaning up lunar sand and modeling dough, they throw THIS crap at parents?  Real "fake" snow???  What on earth could this substance be?  And why would I want my kid playing (making a mess) with it?  Ugh...

And the one that gets Milo every stinkin' time -- the collapsible RC cars shown in a classroom with the kids tricking their teacher.  He actually said, "Hey, mom!  Those are for school because your teacher won't see you playing with them!"  Ummm... nope, buddy.  Not gonna happen with MY kid.  First of all, he's still young enough that he hasn't' figured out how to smuggle anything anywhere yet.  Secondly, he tells me everything he's doing (and I do mean EVERYTHING) all the time, so he doesn't yet have the capability to fib me to get a toy to school that he's not supposed to have there.  not to mention that he rides to school with his best buddy and can't help but tell him what hes' done and will be doing.

So, seriously, toy makers -- stop advertising your junk in ways that make it impossible for parents to explain to their kids why they don't need your junk.

And why the heck can't kids be happy playing with boxes, sticks, and scraps of yarn anymore?

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