Living: In All Seasons, Toys Are Us

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Peggy Charren, president of Action for Children's Television, complains, "Programs based on merchandise are a phenomenon unique to children's television . . . Soap opera plots do not revolve around the virtues of Tide vs. All. Adults would be turned off." Dr. William H. Dietz, chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics' subcommittee on children and television, agrees: "Young children have difficulty distinguishing between commercials and programs. Program-length commercials further blur this distinction. It leaves not only the children but their parents confused. That's certainly unethical."

And damnably effective, as any parent who has been lobbied for the latest G.I. Joe figure knows. The reason for the shows is clear to anyone who examines the animated cast. "Without a story, the GoBot is just another toy with a neat trick that a kid doesn't know what to do with after 15 minutes," admitted Kenneth Kaess, who supervised Tonka's GoBot campaigns. For the shows -- to enrich the pot, not the plot -- a large array of characters must be developed quickly, sharply, above all memorably. (Warning: each figure can be purchased separately.) To fix characters in the little viewer-consumer's mind, stereotypes are common. "The heroes are all mainstream American-looking," observes Beverly Hills Psychiatrist Carole Lieberman, "and the bad guys are Russians, Arabs or dark-skinned people."

Last spring, in an editorial titled "A TV License to Steal from Kids," Advertising Age warned, "Those responsible for the building avalanche of toy- licensed TV should get themselves ready for an even louder consumer group -- and consumer -- outcries. Although it takes the American public a while to react to excesses, reaction is sure to come, and many more voices will be heard." The choir has arrived. Joanne Oppenheim, a child development specialist at the Bank Street College of Education in New York City, notes that "fairy tales and legends were traditionally read aloud to children. They could evoke their own images of good and evil. The toys initiated and promoted on the after-school shows are far too literal. Children have little room for improvisation." At the Sarah Lawrence Early Childhood Center, Director Wilford finds that "young children play the TV characters in a prescribed way, with the flavor taken out of it. When they follow the script it limits their imaginations. They don't have to look around to invent things for themselves. It's done for them."

The old myths still animate these toys, but with an unfortunate difference: designers and promoters are interested more in what children like than in what they are like. They seek to curry out the inconvenient burrs and tangles of human reality. Maurice Sendak, author and illustrator of children's books, finds that "we are so busy protecting the young from what we think is bad for them that we don't think of what is being presented to them. Parents are such passive victims. As long as a toy makes money, that will excuse anything ; that's done, even to children."