Posted on 04/17/2003 3:52:34 PM PDT by aomagrat
Columbia SC.
Forget the chocolate bunnies and marshmallow Peeps.
For just $9.74, you can buy the "Military Combat" Easter basket, a pretty pastel-colored package loaded with gun-toting toy soldiers, tanks and grenades.
The Easter warriors are embedded with the legions of more traditional - Winnie-the-Pooh and Barbie-themed baskets - that line the shelves of local Wal-Marts and Kmarts.
The baskets have been eagerly snatched up by some Columbia area shoppers. But not everyone's happy to see G.I. Joe join forces with Peter Cottontail.
"I think it's very deplorable to try to sanitize the ugly face of war," said Hal French, professor emeritus of religious studies at University of South Carolina.
"And to essentially associate it with Easter, something that speaks about life and resurrection .‘.‘. it's a tragic association."
Retailers insist the battle-ready baskets are not a war marketing scheme and are just part of the usual assortment ordered after last year's holiday.
Still, the war in Iraq could make them a hot Easter item.
Steve Sprow, manager of the West Columbia Wal-Mart, expects the combat sets to inspire more pride than offense. "We're a military town," Sprow said.
That seemed to be the case at the Spring Valley Wal-Mart last weekend, where the baskets were well-received.
"Oh, that's cute!" said Mercy Palacios of Blythewood, who was perusing the Easter aisles for treats to send to a National Guard friend in the Persian Gulf.
But the martial baskets have already spurred protests and angered religious leaders and parents in other parts of the country.
"They send children a very confusing message," said Daphne White, executive director of the Lion & Lamb Project, a Bethesda, Md.-based children's advocacy group that opposes violence being marketed to kids.
"Do we want to sell our kids this notion that war is fun and you can eat chocolate while pretending to bomb people?"
The backlash prompted Walgreens last month to pull the baskets from store shelves nationwide, including two Columbia-area stores.
"We had a few complaints from customers and religious leaders about mixing military-themed toys with a gift for a religious holiday," said Walgreens spokesman Michael Polzin. "So we took a second look at it and decided they had a point."
Others retailers are sticking to their guns.
Kmart corporate spokeswoman Abigail Jacobs said Kmart has sold the baskets for several years. This is the first year the chain has received complaints, which Jacobs attributes to the Iraq war and media coverage about the Easter baskets.
"We've definitely getting feedback," Jacobs said.
But because the company has also heard positive comments, it's leaving the final call to individual store managers.
"We're not taking a stance on the war here; we're trying to offer our customers an array of products," Jacobs said.
The "Soldier Force" baskets sold at local Kmarts stand 3 feet high and sell for $15.99.
Against a fiery desert backdrop lies a ready-made toy arsenal: various assault rifles, grenades and knives join small action figures, barbed wire, barricades and jeeps. The basket's brightly colored backing reads "Happy Easter!" and contains Easter games and activities.
Another Kmart basket, priced at $9.99, includes a camouflage-clad, 11½-inch "action hero," complete with knives, guns and ammunition. The baskets are topped with a bow and include a few packs of M&M's, Skittles and other candy. The toys are marked for children 3 and older.
But putting those toys in the hands of young children can be dangerous, White said.
"Children under the age of 8 do not understand the difference between fantasy and reality," she said. "Violence is not child's play."
MegaToys, the Los Angeles-based manufacturer that makes the baskets, did not return repeated calls for comment.
Whether patriotism will make the baskets hot sellers remains to be seen. Easter baskets tend to be a last-minute purchase, said Spring Valley Wal-Mart manager Billy Newman.
"We hope not to offend anyone, but also we want to make sure we can take care of most our customers' needs," he said.
The baskets have drawn mixed reaction from some military families.
April Elliott, whose husband is a Fort Jackson drill sergeant, was among shoppers looking for Easter goodies at the Spring Valley Wal-Mart last weekend. The Northeast Columbia resident said she would consider buying the basket for her 6-year-old son.
"He would love it. That would just make his day," she said.
But Elliott wasn't sold on the toy weaponry. While her son has military action figures, she doesn't allow him to play with toy guns and other violent toys.
Frankie Griffin, a major with the Army Reserve's 310th personnel group, isn't sure whether he would buy the baskets for his two sons, ages 8 and 9.
Griffin said he's for anything that fosters pride in U.S. troops, but would rather see the toy knives and grenades replaced with American flags.
"I've got no problems with the G.I. Joes, but I don't know if I'd want to push the violence part," said the Cayce resident.
And while his own boys enjoy playing with toy soldiers, "I'd be afraid for them to play Army too much at home."
I fail to see why Winnie-the-Pooh and Barbie are considered "more traditional" than toy soldiers.
I am continually amazed by the falsities that journalists just toss off as if they were the most obvious things in the world.
Yep, Hal FRENCH was looking for the surrender basket.
If I had kids, I know what they would be wearing for next Halloween. There's a couple of houses with NO WAR signs on their lawns where I'd love to take a little Crusader trick-or-treating.
They have a lot of patriotic stuff, too.
"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."
I consider it shocking that a so-called professor of religion did not refer to the scripture where Jesus heals the soldier's servant because his belief was so strong, a Roman no less! Warriors are a part of the world and thus part of His plan.
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