The American influence on toys

A variety of antique American toys.

A toy is an object that is designed for use in play, and is often intended for children. Toys date back thousands of years, and have evolved greatly over time. In the United States, particularly in the era following World War II until today, toys have changed through a variety of influences, to lead to where they are today.

Barbie Trends

Many Barbies are based on events in popular culture, even if those events are meant more for adults. For example, "Baywatch Barbie" dressed in a small swimsuit, says that it is meant for children 3 and up. However, this television show was meant for adults. If you look on IMDB, the first four plot keywords are "big breasts," "breasts," "love interest," and "sex scene." However, the Barbie doll was designed after a pornographic doll sold to men as funny gifts in Germany, so it may not be a surprise that some of the dolls are deemed too sexual for young children.

This Baywatch Barbie was not the only Barbie to reference popular culture. Throughout time, we have seen dolls such as Marie Osmond, Serena Williams, and Jennifer Lopez. More recently, Mattel, the creator of these dolls, has started honoring female role models with their own versions of Barbies. 2018's dolls included the first two female co-hosts of "Today," Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb. These Barbies are meant to inspire young girls, as is Mattel's line of career dolls. On their website, there are 73 career dolls listed, with jobs such as engineers, bee keepers, presidents, and pet groomers.

Some of the Barbie dolls released even had an effect on what was happening in the world. When the astronaut Barbie was created in 1965 wearing eyeshadow and lipstick, NASA created its own makeup kit for female astronauts to bring into space.

Movies and Television Shows

When the "Star Wars" movies became popular, they started to market toys associated with the film. "Star Wars: A New Hope" became the first successful film to do this. After the success of these, other movies and TV shows marketed lines of successful toys. On Time Magazine's list of the 13 most influential toys, we see G.I. Joe, Doc McStuffins, and Legos, which became even more popular when sets about popular movies were released.

Sometimes, this would go the other way around and media would be created based on a toy. One example where you can see this is a television show called "Hot Wheels," an animated based off of the Mattel cars. This show was eventually pulled from the air for being too much of an advertisement for the toys. Another example is Barbie movies. There are 38 titles listed on IMDB, with a list created in August of 2017. All of the films on the list have between five and seven stars, making them not the most popular movies.

In the United States, movies and toys sell each other. As a movie becomes popular with children, they recognize the characters from the movies. When they see a toy that they recognize, they are more likely to ask their parents for that toy. Since these toys are more requested by children, they become much more popular.

Toys that correlate with movies or television shows also encourage children to role play those actions. This type of play is enjoyable to young children, and characters that they know are commonly included in these games. Toys promote this type of play, and it is great for the children to use their imagination; it prepares them for the rest of their lives.

Society’s Impact

Lawn Darts, which were banned in the United States due to safety reasons in 1989.

There have been many influences throughout history that have changed the toys that children play with. As safety standards have become more strict, for instance, the types of toys that are made change. Toys that were once commonly accepted are no longer considered safe, and fall out of fashion, such as Lawn Darts which were popular in the 1980’s. Along with safety, society’s view of things like body image have a large impact on the toys children play with. Action figures are one example of this. In the 1980’s action figures such as those of He-Man, were made to look very muscular and disproportionately large. This trend continued for a long time as toys continued to look more and more this way, until recently the push for a positive male body image has come to light. This has pushed for action figures to have much more realistic proportions, such as with super hero action figures.

The overall increase in wealth of society has also allowed for the change in children’s playthings. As America as a whole has become more wealthy and are more able to spend money on things, the quality and price of toys have also risen. Along with wealth is technology, which has also developed overtime. The more complex technology that is developed leads to more complex toys that are created. Technologically advanced toys such as tablets, couldn’t have even been dreamt of in the 1980’s. As both technology and wealth have increased, children’s toys have changed along with them. The overall feelings and opinions of society have had a very large impact on the toys that have been made popular throughout history.

Advertisement

The role of advertisers has had a big influence on the toys that have become popular throughout the last several decades. Overtime, as media has become much more readily available to children, companies have started to target them more and more. Products that are heavily advertised and are made to seem very appealing are the ones that kids want to play with. Advertising is a large influencer for children in deciding what toys they want to play with, and in turn has influenced the subsequent toys that are made.

Movies and television shows intended for children are another way that children are persuaded to want to play with certain toys. Product placement in these programs allow children to see various toys in action, and want them more. The use of this as a way of advertising has influenced what children play with, since the ones that push for such advertising become more popular. This push for advertising had changed what kids want, or what developers think they might want.

References

This article "The American influence on toys" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:The American influence on toys. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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