[illinoissmith]

"But dolls like Baby Bratz should not be marketed to children. I would go as far to say that they shouldn't be sold anywhere."

Yeah, they shouldn't, I agree with that, as do most people here it seems. But the options are, so far as I can see, three:

1. personally refuse to buy these things, and convince friends and family to do likewise

2. organize boycotts of the stores that sell them and people who accept ads from them

3. Create a government department, funded on the taxpayer dime, to approve toys. Like the FDA, but for toys and games (TGA?). It could hire clerks to screen each toy to be sold according to formal standards drawn up by a panel of experts or cronies appointed by some politician.


Many people here are doing 1.

Probably some organization should get involved in doing 2.

I would argue that 3 is absurd, and a violation of useful, important market principles.

[durasell]

Most parents don't even care what their kids eat -- as evidenced by the alarming rate of obesity. I've seen toddlers drinking Coke.

Given the evidence, do you really believe parents care what toys their kids play with?

[two134711]

“But dolls like Baby Bratz should not be marketed to children. I would go as far to say that they shouldn't be sold anywhere."
Yeah, they shouldn't, I agree with that, as do most people here it seems.

You think so? I’m not so sure…

But the options are, so far as I can see, three: 1. personally refuse to buy these things, and convince friends and family to do likewise 2. organize boycotts of the stores that sell them and people who accept ads from them 3. Create a government department, funded on the taxpayer dime, to approve toys. Like the FDA, but for toys and games (TGA?). It could hire clerks to screen each toy to be sold according to formal standards drawn up by a panel of experts or cronies appointed by some politician.

Check for me on 1 & 2, albeit with little success on the latter. Local merchants sell what people want to buy, and for some reason, many people think that dolls of pre-adolescents and babies wearing skimpy outfits & thongs are AOK. But it’s different strokes for different folks, & we ghave to accept it.

Of course 3 is absurd, and no one is calling for the federal government to ban these dolls. It would be preferable if parents would actually start parenting their children and say no to such vileness. But I can’t see that happening any time soon. Not everybody will do the right thing because it is the right thing to do. And the government shouldn’t and can’t enforce that.

However, local governments have been known to ban the sale of items they deem dangerous to minors such as candy cigarettes & alcohol or hemp-flavored lollipops. One may not agree with such actions, but they are within their rights to do this.

I do take issue with the claim that items should NEVER be banned from the markets. Some things should not be placed on the market, not ever. (Child pornography and heroin come to mind.)