When I was a kid I loved my My Little Ponies (MLP). This is one I used to have It's kinda pony like, it's got a mane and a tail, maybe it's a bit sappy, but you get the idea. I had a play set that went with them too, it was an apple stand, ponies like apples so that kinda makes sense. I really wanted the hot air balloon so my MLP's could go adventuring but my mum said it was too expensive for a pile of plastic that was made by child slaves.
This morning I had kids tv on and there was an ad for a MLP. It looked like this.
That's not really pony like, unless it's a pony from the far reaches of outer space. Admittedly the MLP of the 1980s is a rather abstract interpretation of an equine creature but the MLP of the 1980s was seriously lacking in one area. SEX APPEAL. Yes that' right. The modern MLP has been SEXIFIED! Its body is thinner, its legs are longer and thinner, its eyes are ... well they're kinda hard to describe given that they're on a pink plastic pony, but at a stretch they're sexy!
Wow! That's pretty stupid right!?
So the next ad was for a Dora the Explorer toy.
But I think I must have missed something somewhere, because Dora is an EXPLORER, not a ballerina! And Dora is a chubby little girl, not a skinny long legged thing. Call me crazy, but isn't exploring, and going on adventures more interesting than ballet? Granted some ballerinas have wonderful careers, and ballet is fantastic, but it's not about cutesy, fluffy tutus, it's about strength, creative expression, often a tragic love story, but not frou frou.
Soooo the next ad was for some strange rodent like thing. It's probably a hamster but we don't get them in Australia as far as I know, we get guinea pigs so for the sake of familiarity I'll refer to them as such.
Finally something that's not sexified! Unless there are some sexy legs hiding underneath that fur. But! There had to be a but (or two in this case) when you look at the play sets, these are apparently SHOPPING guinea pigs! Guinea pigs who like fashion and accessorising! Perish the thought of them just living like normal guinea pigs! ALL little girls love to shop and wear fashion so it's appropriate that toy guinea pigs like it too if little girls are going to play with them. You wouldn't want to stretch the imagination would you. Adventuring guinea pigs would be uncool, no one would like them EXCEPT
BOYS!!! Boys like guinea pigs that BATTLE and have missiles strapped to them!
Yes, that's right. Angry, armed to the teeth, battling guinea pigs!!!
Gee. I wonder why there is such a high divorce rate?
6 comments:
When you take the time to analyze all the toy marketing out there today, you realize just how twisted our culture has become.
It's just disgraceful, isn't it!?
I too had a few MLP as a kid, and mine looked much like yours. My daugher also has some MLP, thankfully they are of the same variety as yours and mine. As funnily enough, they were 'old school' when my sister was little too, and that was in the late 90's.
So it appears that it's only it fairly recent years that children's toys have reached their height of sexualisation, obviously to the detriment of our society.
LOL! Cool post, Meg. Hey, I'm already a follower of your blog I see. I lose track of whos blog is whos. I will be back xx
That's why my kids play with my old dolls!
I do not really see the pony as sexualized. They do have a new series of MLP. I just wished it looked more like the show. But at least they will have a white Celestia
Excellent blog post never seen before carry on.
Adult toys
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