RANDOM JOTTINGS

A blog about music, sports, theatre and rants

Long time blogger just moved to wordpress. Love music, theatre, movies, sport (tennis and cricket) and cooking. Two great daughters, two great granddaughters.

Toys R Us aka Crap is us

I do not think I have set foot in a branch of Toys R Us for over twenty years until this weekend and, if I have my way, I never will again.   It is Florence's birthday in a week or two and she loves My Little Pony. Helen is not overwhelmed with joy at this, but I pointed out to her that she and her sister had a mammoth collection of same when small, plus assorted Sylvanian families, so there was not a lot she could say.  

So off I went to have a look at their stock and drove to the one on the outskirts of Ipswich in the pouring rain and walked inside and came to a grinding halt as the lilac and pink onslaught of colour hit me.  Aisle after aisle of the most revoltingly garishly hued plastic tat, all expensive and all guaranteed to be chucked within half an hour of receipt.   The Lego section was OK of course though that forward looking company has now produced Lego for Girls, PINK, which is totally unnecessary and ghastly.

Pink

Two aisles of Barbies and accessories, then Sylvanian families then dressing up clothes, all Disney in shades of mauve, sugar babe pink and silver glitter, tiaras and plastic gaudy jewellery. I was totally overwhelmed by all this and had to ask a young man to take me gently by the hand and lead me to the My Little Pony section which he duly did and I chose one for Florence in blue and white.

I decided to take a look at the I Made it Myself section. There are two – Girls and Boys and my feminist instincts came surging to the surface.  Every single box set was highly coloured, every single box was showing pictures of simpering little girls (all heavily made up) displaying lurid plastic bangles that you could make should your parents be daft enough to shell out for the craft kit, glitter for nails, hair bands etc etc. There were knitting sets, but again, lurid colours and plastic needles which will last five minutes. Vile.

Now do not get me wrong. I certainly do not think that every single toy has to be educational, has to be made of wood, has to be long lasting – a bit of throw away tat does not do a child any harm (comes into its own at Christmas time) but the sheer onslaught of all this awful stuff made me feel quite nauseous and I left the store suffering from sensory overload.

OK you may think this is an extreme reaction and you may be right but boy was I glad to get out of there.

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16 responses to “Toys R Us aka Crap is us”

  1. Jane Avatar
    Jane

    I came across this woman a few months ago. She picks up second hand Bratz dolls and turns them into normal looking girls with functional clothes. Pretty amazing.
    http://treechangedolls.tumblr.com/

    Reply
  2. Dark Puss Avatar
    Dark Puss

    Your outrage is completely justified. Very depressing :-(

    Reply
  3. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    I feel very strongly about all this. I gather little girls in class want to grow up to be famous, marry a footballer or be on I’m a Celebrity get me out of here type programmes. And this is why this kind of toy sells like hot cakes. I feel sometimes that we have regressed rather than progressed. I really do.
    Florence and Beatrice both love My Little Pony and there is no point in not letting them have them as this will pass as it did with my two, but so far the colours of the ponies are blue, white and yellow which I personally feel looks much better than the sick making pinks and lilac
    I draw the line at Barbies and will NEVER buy one. If I did I think my daughter would disown me anyway

    Reply
  4. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    I find it odd that when my children were growing up in the less enlightened feminist days, I never had this problem with LEGO of all things but now it is everywhere. I went into John Lewis a few years ago and asked the location of the LEGO. Oh is it for a girl or a boy I was asked. I fixed her with a gimlet look and said IT DOES NOT MATTER and then let rip about the pink stuff. Poor girl. I probably figured in her conversation when she got home that night as That Awful Customer I had Today.
    I am now awaiting Mother’s Day and the arrangements of pink flowers and displays of Chick lit books with pastel covers….
    On Father’s Day it is books about football and gold etc etc heaven help you if you are a man who likes ballet or hates sport

    Reply
  5. LizF Avatar
    LizF

    I never understood why they felt the need to make pink Lego but came to the conclusion that the rot started to set in when they started making more and more sets to make a specific item rather than the sort of boxes of varied bricks that I had way back in the 60’s which could be used to make whatever your imagination dreamed up.
    Some of the toys aimed at small girls are actually rather frightening despite their saccharin colours – I can’t help thinking that the newest incarnation of My Little Pony is more like a Nightmare than a fairytale creature and not a patch on the much more solid ones that my daughters had in the 80’s and 90’s.

    Reply
  6. Karen K. Avatar
    Karen K.

    You are not wrong, toys are becoming increasingly sexist. Retailers claim it’s “what customers want” but I call BS. I think they’re trying to get people to buy two of everything. The upshot is that everything for girls is getting pink and girly and stupid, and what used to be gender-neutral is now geared toward boys. It’s ridiculous. I’m really grateful that it wasn’t nearly as bad when my girls were young enough to be affected.

    Reply
  7. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    They look gorgeous Joan. My two love books and reading and Florence is reading very well now and has been for some time. Such a joy to have grandchildren reading and listening to the books I used to read to their mother

    Reply
  8. Joan Kyler Avatar
    Joan Kyler

    With my status as a great-aunt, I’m allowed more latitude. My three grandnieces get books from me and the softest cutest stuffed animals, made by Jelly Cat. They can’t get enough of the latter. I just bought these reading pillows for them. http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=relaximals+reading+pillow&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=86275528345&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9235841977347023503&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_5a2w2cpklj_e I plan to give them the pillows and a book so they can use them right away. They all love cat things.

    Reply
  9. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    Harriet, I could not belive how awful it was and got out as quickly as I could.

    Reply
  10. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    I always wanted a train set as a child but of course never got one. I have found when observing Flo and Bea that they do gravitate to girly stuff, well of course they will, but they have a choice of toys and Lego is the one most used and played with. Helen refuses to have the girl version in the house and quite rightly too

    Reply
  11. Harriet Devine Avatar
    Harriet Devine

    Shocking actually in this day and age that they can get away with this — not the plastic tat so much, as if people are paying for it the manufacturers will go on making it. But the girls vs boys toys (and displays) really should be banned. I haven’t been to Toys R Us for 20 years either, and this convinces me that it’s the last place I’d ever go for toys.

    Reply
  12. Ann Avatar
    Ann

    Pink Lego – words fail me. One Christmas when I was a child (a very long time ago) my cousin got a Meccano set and I got a doll – guess which I would much rather have had! Still rankles!

    Reply
  13. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    It is crap Susan so do not worry about saying it. In fact it is shite. My two played happily with Lego all their childhood and were totally unaware that they were missing out on PINK lego. And all the Disney Frozen stuff, plastic, cheap, nasty and vile.
    Yuk

    Reply
  14. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    and all the boys stuff was guns and trains and metal etc

    Reply
  15. Susan D Avatar
    Susan D

    Yes, I always cringe and check the calendar (is it STILL 1963?) when I encounter all-out crap like this, (Sorry for the c-word, but I toned it down). Lego for Girls. Right. Because apparently girls have playing with someone else’s toys all these years. Contraband, in fact.
    Okay, I’ll stop now only because my head will explode if I go on. Must…be…calm….

    Reply
  16. Chrissie Avatar
    Chrissie

    I am with you all the way on this, Elaine. Pink lego . . . words fail me.

    Reply

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