Maczkó Beatrix- Children as members of the consumer society

Maczkó Beatrix Vivien

American popular culture
Instructor: Dr. Bülgözdi Imola

Children as members of the consumer society

University of Debrecen

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Maczkó Beatrix- Children as members of the consumer society

It seems like children only have one task to do in kindergarten, this is to play with toys.

However, the teachers and parents watch them eagerly by doing so. Although they opt for

their toys subconsciously, the choice they make is crucial according to the observers including

teachers, psychologists and parents. Playing is not just an activity for fun, it is also a

fundamental tool for learning. Via playing children explore and understand the world, in

which they live in. While they construct meaning through playing, at the same time certain

skills are developed in them for example the skill of cooperation or speaking. The boys are

usually provided with cars and building blocks like LEGOs, which develop technical

knowledge and skills, while the girls get dolls, which they can dress up or do their makeup.

These kinds of toys enable the girls to practice their communication skills and ‘emotional

literacy‘ as well.[CITATION Helyőrző1 \l 1038 ] If a boy plays with those toys which are

marketed as ‘for girls’ usually concerns the parents. They start to worry about their boy being

homosexual. Although, Francis summarised the previously published researches in the field

and came to the conclusion that “young children do not initially understand toys and

gendered, but that they rapidly learn that certain toys are for boys and others for

girls.”[ CITATION Helyőrző1 \l 1038 ] This proves that the kids get stimulus and response from

the environment and based on their generalizations they develop a certain “gender theory”,

which help them to define themselves in the society. Those parents who consider themselves

as modern, tend to hold the view that gender stereotypes have harmful impact on kid’s healthy

development. These parents do not want to influence their children by limiting their toy

preferences because gendered toys reinforce negative gender stereotypes. This tendency led to

the introduction of gender neutral toys in the market. Despite that manufacturers do not seem

to be willing to change in a great extent because they still promote the gendered toys even

though more and more parents oppose them.

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Maczkó Beatrix- Children as members of the consumer society

Likewise, Barbie, which has become an icon of the American popular culture, was received

with mixed feeling since her debutation. The toy was created by Ruth Handel, who was a

mother of two kids. The idea came to her when she observed her daughter while she was

playing with paper dolls. She realised the need for a 3D doll, with which girls can play out

their lives. Since it appeared in the market in 1959, Barbie has been drawn several criticism,

as Wagner-Ott notes “By the end of the 20th century, cultural studies scholars had drawn

attention to the negative effects Barbie may have on girls in relation to gender

definitions.”[ CITATION Wag02 \l 1038 ] Furthermore Barbie was a controversial issue which

concerned the feminists the most. The reason for this perhaps is that, it teaches false

stereotypes and broadcast the message to women that everything is possible if they simply

look pretty. On the other hand, Barbie with its appearance (straight, long, blonde hair, with

thin hips and long legs) was the target of the men gaze and therefore its body is highly

sexualized to appeal to men. Seeing Barbie like this, may cause low level of self-confidence

in girls. Feminists and parents were worried about their girls may think if they are nothing

compared to Barbie, they have no chance to be worthy of any attention from men. In extreme

situations this can lead to eating disorders like bulimia, because girls go on dangerous diets or

they are not willing to eat in order to achieve the measures which Barbie has. This is very

dangerous because the fans of Barbie are just kids who need vital nutrients like protein,

vitamins and carbohydrates in order to their healthy development. Also, there was a time

when only white Barbie was available in the toy market. She was blamed for being a

representative of “promoting white, middle-class values and “image”.”[ CITATION Wag02 \l

1038 ] According to a research which has been mentioned in Wagner- Ott’s article, Black

children consciously opted for white dolls and rejected black ones. This means that Black

children did not appreciate themselves as they did white children.[ CITATION Wag02 \l 1038 ]

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Maczkó Beatrix- Children as members of the consumer society

Even though, dolls have been used by generations of kids for decades. Barbie is remained one

of the most liked toys, whose success is not weakened in a great extent. Dolls were the tools

through which kids could express their thoughts because they offered several interpretations.

In the past children often imagined their lives as if they would be adults and present day kids

want to do so, too. The only change is that with the help of the modern dolls they can mock

the reality more precisely. Today children can play out the events with character which are

supplied with more life-like accessories. Why Barbie did remain relevant today is due to the

fact that the manufacturers keep pace with the changes of fashion and lifestyles of people.

When I was a child, Barbie collection was nearly a status symbol in the kindergarten. We

used to compete on who has the bigger collection of dolls and accessories. I think in this

issue Barbie is the scapegoat, who is blamed for our problems. Those kids who have played

with Barbie once surely did not suffer from eating disorders because of this very act. Barbie is

not like a contagious illness which infect the girls. If any girls have become addicted to a toy

like they would put their own life in danger something is not right in their heads.

Nowadays interactive dolls become more and more popular like Baby Born. This tendency

shows that the market which Barbie initiated is not a dead-end road. These dolls based on

similar idea and it seems to attract the children just as much as Barbie did in the past. Girls

enjoy playing with dolls like their mothers and grandmothers did at the same age. The

manufacturer of Barbie, the company of Mattel wanted to sell her because they saw the

potential in it. The market was not at all abundant in toys hence they offered a quite unique

product for which there was a demand. It is true that their business policy is not fair from the

angle of consumers and the strategy which they use in order to gain profit is not with good

intentions by all means. They promote a product which may have negative impact on kid’s

self-image. Companies manipulate them by entering into partnership with those companies

whose products children like the most. For example, they place advertisements on packages of

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Maczkó Beatrix- Children as members of the consumer society

corn flakes and show advertisements in the commercial break of such TV channel, whose

target audience are children.

Unfortunately, this is how business works for ancient times by employing aggressive

strategies for manipulating people. We cannot ban every toy from the market whose

manufacturer apply strategies like these because there would be no toys at the market. We

certainly cannot rebuke them because they want more profit regardless of people’s well-being.

What parents can do in my opinion is to speak to their children and make them aware of the

drawbacks of being a member of the consumer society. If the children are not mature enough

parents should be consistent and learn how to handle the general pictures of the supermarket

at the toy department- that is children having tantrum because of a toy.

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Maczkó Beatrix- Children as members of the consumer society

Works cited

Francis, Becky. “Gender, Toys and Learning.” Oxford Review of Education, vol. 36, no. 3,

2010, pp. 325–344., www.jstor.org/stable/25699588.

Wagner-Ott, Anna. “Analysis of Gender Identity Through Doll and Action Figure Politics in

Art Education.” Studies in Art Education, vol. 43, no. 3, 2002, pp. 246–263. JSTOR, JSTOR,

www.jstor.org/stable/1321088.