ControverSunday (Tuesday): Licensed Merchandise
August 10, 2010 11 Comments
Hey! It’s been a long while since I last half-assedly participated in ControverSunday (Tuesday). This week’s topic is interesting to me because it’s one of those things that I didn’t realize was an issue in mommy circles until I became a mother myself. It’s the type of thing that you will never see addressed in a parenting book.
First, some business to take care of:
So, licensed merchandise is all that stuff that has, like, Disney characters and stuff on it. If you’re hyper aware — or really, even marginally aware — you notice just how much crap is licensed these days.
I can debate that it’s one thing when a grown adult buys a Metallica T-shirt or a Florida Gators (CHOMP CHOMP!) cooler. We adults generally have the power of choice and the advantage of age and the social/cultural awareness that comes along with it.
But when you start talking about kids’ items, you run into some issues, right? How appropriate is it that an otherwise unremarkable plastic sippy cup is decorated with Tinkerbell or Lightning McQueen? Or that Pampers diapers are decorated with Sesame Street characters (and Huggies with Winnie the Pooh, and Luvs with Blue’s Clues)? That nutritionally helpful vitamins are in the shape of Wilma and Barney?
Several controversial issues at work here:
- Babies or little kids don’t have a choice, let alone the cultural insight and objectivity, to critically review their interests in popular culture and the contexts within which those artifacts were created and disseminated
- Licensing can be viewed as a part of a means to create early, perpetual and loyal consumers
- Parents are the ultimate peddlers of this merchandise, etc.
When I somewhat randomly got involved in a crunchy mom circle online, I started becoming aware of previously non-problematic (to me) issues such as licensed children’s merchandise. And then I was all “I will only buy plain wooden toys made in America!” and “I will only cloth diaper, except when I don’t and when I don’t, I will only buy off-brand, non-licensed disposable diapers!” and “There will be no TV in this house until the girls are old enough to read through my grad school books and make critically conscious choices about what they consume!”
But then I really wanted to get the girls one of those cute little foam fold-out couches for toddlers. And I realized that, unless I wanted to spend an exorbitant amount of money on an organic-cover, non-licensed, made in the U.S.A. toddler couch, I was stuck with a polyester-and-foam, completely flammable and probably laden with lead Backyardigans couch that I bought with a 20% off coupon from Babies R Us.
In my defense, I had no idea what the Backyardigans was (were? is it/are they a collective noun or a plural noun or whatever?)
Elise also recently went through a phase where her favorite thing in the world was Snow White. SUCK ON THAT, MOM.
My feelings now are less rigid. The girls are going to be exposed to all sorts of nonsense throughout their lives that will make me want to stab my eyes out or cry or fear for their lives. While I don’t work to accelerate that exposure, I’m not as fearful of it either. Yet.
Besides, we have tickets to see Yo Gabba Gabba! Live in October and nothing’s going to stop me and Chris the girls from seeing our their favorite show.
Don’t worry — the kids bought their own tickets with their college savings.
11 comments
The problem…there used to be an option not everyone likes lightning mcqueen…when Tavin was wee and I got him his "foam fire chair" you were still able to buy a solid colour with a patterned background, I believe his had spheres and cones on it on a red base. I went back a few years later to get Silas his foam fire chair…do you think I could find another solid plain chair, nope. Granted Heath has a woody/buzz chair because Thad picked it for him lol. those chairs are our 1st birthday club gift.
As I sit here this evening wrapped up in a Wall-E blanket finally having time to surf the web after making reservations for a Polar Express train in Dec, knowing we are already splurging to go to Yo Gabba Gabba too, I just can't see what all this licensing thing is you speak of. Let me go refill my McQueen cup and check on my boys while hey sleep in their Thomas pj's and get back to you.
Seriously? All the above is true except I'm not using one of the McQueen cups. But, I think I might be sitting on Luigi. Better than a light saber, I guess. I am really struggling finding a lunchbox. I want something fun for a little boy, that isn't Cars or Toy Story. What I hate most about licensing is how hard it is to find something not licensed. I don't want him to be one of the 7 in a class with the same lunchbox. I feel like the licensing takes away some sense of individuality. This is easily visible at halloween when all little girls are princesses and little boys are Thomas (yes, I had a Thomas and a Nemo).
Oh man, I think a lot of us go through the immediate backlash after seeing the rampant consumerism and world of stuff being hurtled at our spongey children. I, too, was like, "Waldorf toys only!" "No plastic!", oh man. Looking at my house now… *shakes head*. I mean, like you, I have sort of slowed up on the fear over this. I remember being obsessed with various "licensed" things as a child. My little pony, the Smurfs, Black Beauty (I had the whole set!), and, now look at me! LOL I rail against it, yet, my son demands his SuperWhy sippy cup and my daughter has a strange obsession already with Hello Kitty, and it's not like there's even a show for that, right? She just gravitated towards it… Or maybe I did? Who the hell knows. I'm sick of beating my self up over this stuff, you know? I think the best we can do is to simply teach our kids that "stuff" isn't everything, and, like you said, they are going to be constantly exposed to merchandise, ideas, etc, that we don't like or cringe at, (uh, I had a three year long glitter only phase as a tween, I KNOW it scarred my mom) so making it somehow taboo is only going to exacerbate the issue. But I like this post a lot. If you don't mind, I'm going to share it. Thanks!
My recent post and then it hit me
Hey, thanks for participating! We have one of those toddler couches, too. It's a sesame street deal, complete with Elmo (E loves to stare into Elmo's eyes, searching for his soul, I guess). Why have brands cornered the toddler couch market, I wonder?
We have a few things here and there that are licensed but with my daughter we are lucky. She's five and could care less about 'licensed' things. She likes pink, purple, and red. She likes rainbows, and hearts and ribbons………
My recent post Everything is Squeaky
We ♥ the Backyardigans! (and many more Nick Jr shows) When the twins were little, I got to dress them alike. I never thought I would do that with twins, but it turns out, I had a lot of fun with it. Now, they are 4.5 and they want more and more independence. I get many of our clothes as handmedowns, so the control is out of my hands somewhat (I mean, I could pull the stuff out. Actually, I have with a couple things.) but, they love picking out their favs and they love wearing things with characters on them. I still pick clothes for special events and photos, but otherwise, it's a battle I have let them win. Today, Carl wore a Tigger tee shirt. He was so proud to show people, "I have Tigger playing soccer on today".
But yes, for photos etc I hate advertising or characters etc. We're going to Disney this fall and I have already informed my husband that he canNOT wear any Buffalo Bills or Rush tee shirts. I want plain colors in the photos. The kids will be wearing a ton of Disney stuff. And princess dresses. Oh, and I have to make Carl a Prince Charming tee shirt, too. Otherwise, he'll want a Sleeping Beauty dress.
The one I hate the most are the soles of Stride Rite baby shoes. That foolish bright colored lettering that shows in every single photo because a small child is sitting and the soles of their feet face the camera. G&C had bare feet in every photo for years!! Even if they were wearing jeans and sweaters – if we went to a photo studio, they removed their shoes!
In our house, it is my son who loves loves loves Hello Kitty! And I have the same question as Catherine – Why? Where did he pick it up from? But, let me tell you… there aren't any shirts with boy Hello Kitty on them. He has several stuffed ones and several pairs of HK socks that he loves to wear. I might actually applique a shirt for him that is more boyish in color. (because I am sooo Martha Stewart, ya know)
We weren't exactly crunchy, but I didn't go out of my way to get anything for the Chicklets until they were more aware. Does that make sense?
I had friends who went all out & decorated their infants' room with Baby Snoopy everything. I kept thinking, "Why? They spend most of their time sleeping!" and then watched the same friends trying to re-sell their exorbitantly overpriced Baby Snoopy items after having it in their kids' bedroom only a year.
::shaking head in disgust::
We used castoffs, hand-me-downs, garage sale finds, clearance items. The babies never knew the difference. Now, of course, they want to shop at our club re-sale — avoid anything Hannah Montana — and have a negative attitude toward Nike. Not that they've never had anything Snoopy, Disney, or other licensed item, but I'm sensing I may have done something right along the way.
Things that make you go hmmmmm
My recent post There are things that make sense And then there’s my life
Yo Gabba Gabba: all I know about it so far is that it involves dancing sex toys. I guess more will be revealed to me when my girls are older.
Yo Gabba Gabba was also referenced in the Literal Video for the Killers' 'Read My Mind' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIK_Xw-lVsI but apparently the Killers objecteed to it, or something, so now this one has a cat and is slightly off-sync…)
so now my teenaged daughter, who loved the literal video, owns the Yo Gabba Gabba squid guy.
But back to your actual point, even though I Am Late:
I tried to avoid making my children look like shills for any particular company, but they LOVED the Sesame Street peeps, and what kind of mother can deny her Ernie-lover a t-shirt with his smiling face?
I did try to avoid all of the other products with Things on them – I got blank sippy cups, bottles, diapers, shoes, furniture, bumper pads, blah blah blah. Part of that is because I am a). cheap, andb). constitutionally incapable of adhering to A Theme.
And I have used up all of my allotted random caps for the day, so I have to go now.
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