With two girls, our house is officially overrun by ponies. MY Little Pony that is. We have MILLIONS of them. It is amazing since I remember buying them for little girls back in the 80’s who are now in their 30’s no doubt buying them for their daughters. But they have changed.
From this as found on the great site Child of the 80’s:
To this from the Hasbro official My Little Pony site:
While I have nothing against Barbies. I don’t think my kids will end up with issues about dieting and physique due to playing with them, I was kind of relieved that the obsessive toy love was over something that didn’t have boobs. The tv show is cute and the horses are all fun. Just a lot smaller and skinnier than they were in the 80’s. So apparently horses have weight problems too. Seriously…the horses are skinnier and em sexier than they were in the 80’s we sexed up horses.
And so it goes on. Then THIS came out much to the joy and excitement of my girls:
I can’t say I was thrilled to see the ponies humanized and of course in short skirts etc. I haven’t seen too much anti-buzz about them to be honest. I just found this article and I don’t think the Bronies can be all that impressed by them either.
My reaction to them was “really? we need more sexualized dolls for our kid?” And trust me, when it comes to toy choices, I am probably one of the more relaxed parents out there, but even this made me sigh. Was it really necessary is the big question. But as we know, when it comes to money making franchises for kids toy companies…there really are no limits.
I am becoming more and more saddened by how and what toys are marketed to children these days. The PINK section in ToysRus lures the girls in to the world of Barbie, Disney Princesses, Strawberry Shortcake (another old timer) and much more now including a whole GLAM accessory section filled with hair products, nail products and much more all catered to the tween and pre.
It saddens me to see the ‘other’ Disney stuff – Toy Story, Despicable Me, Monsters Inc – all on the non pink and ‘for the boys’ section of marketing. You know that section..where the LEGO is. Don’t get me started on the PINK Lego.
Again, as liberal as I am, I am alarmed by how much gender identification and control the toy companies are having over our toy shopping. I can only encourage people to try to support their private small toy companies that are more diverse in their product choices and less PINK and BLUE in their divisions of toys.
There should be no gender divisions…and we certainly shouldn’t allow a store to TELL us and our children which section they should be shopping in.
What are your thoughts on these types of toys and toy companies? Do you bite the bullet and buy the stuff or do you say no way?
admin says
HuffPo must be psychic…more on the My Little Ponies…http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/19/evolution-of-my-little-pony_n_3617896.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009
Eschelle Westwood says
I have been a MLP fan since birth, in fact i still have some original ponies from the 80s/90s!! I completely agree that they are messing up BAD with this last change to human teenagers. I love them, even the newer ones now are okay (in cartoon form not a toy, toys are stupid) but now that they’re completely derailing the cartoon with this B.S. tweenie-bopper moive I am angry. My boys love MLP, they relate to these silly little ponies… but how on earth will they enjoy or relate to them as slooty teenage girls?!?! what about the bronies of the world man??? I pray this is a stupid move by them that will never be repeated… cause it will break my heart if they end the life of the pony and turn the show into a brats/barbie suck hole of a show.