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Culture

by Mike Masnick

Tue, Mar 2nd 2004 12:14am





Toymakers Spin Stories On The Web

from the imagination-is-so-last-millennium dept

Apparently things like imagination are too much trouble for today's kids. In an effort to get kids more addicted to various toys and dolls this year, toymakers are trying to bring kids to their websites by providing additional story lines to go with the dolls (and to encourage the kids to beg mommy and daddy to buy more toy accessories to keep up). And I had thought the point of dolls was for kids to use their imaginations to come up with their own stories. There's nothing wrong with using the web to promote the toys, but wouldn't it be nicer if used in ways to make them interactive, and encourage the kids to come up with their own stories.

4 Comments | Leave a Comment..


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  1.  

    Toy Story is as old as time

    identicon
    Dr. Don Blake, Mar 2nd, 2004 @ 6:26am

    Toy companies always did this. My G.I. Joe or Capt. Action dolls often had pamphlets in the products that had a comic or photo story line that used all the action escape vehicles and accessories the company was selling. This is just a case of using the web instead of pamplets or comic book ads. Maj. Matt Mason always had comic book ads that had him falling in a lunar hole and he needed a Mattel crane or handy space device to get out. You usually always point out to people that the web is just another tool to do old school things, and this is just another case. Some little girls I know (relatives) really seem to love the MyScene and other funky girl toy sites out there, but they only buy Polly Pockets. Trust kids to know what they like, they're not as dumb as you think.
    Look how they all turned on Britney ;-)

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  

    No Subject Given

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Mar 2nd, 2004 @ 7:02am

    Gotta have stories of some kind to make the kids care about the characters. Beats the hell out of them caring about characters in Mortal Combat on the PS.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  

    doll story lines

    identicon
    Frank, Mar 2nd, 2004 @ 9:36am

    If they still make that doll they sold in the eighties that urinates on cue, let's hope they resist the urge to develop storylines around that one...

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  

    Re: doll story lines

    identicon
    OldYeller, Mar 2nd, 2004 @ 10:04am

    Maybe she needs to submit to random drug testing...

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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