Notes

The Great Bratz Debate
Bratz have already been an enormous phenomenon in the toy industry for a long time. Now, with the upcoming Bratz movie, the brand is set to become, when possible, even more more popular.

However, t here 's been a debate for some time over the suitability of Bratz as a toy for small children. The argument has raged across the world, and has left parents and care-givers having an extremely difficult choice to create. Do they allow Bratz to their households or do they risk incurring their children's wrath by denying them the toy that 'everyone has'.

MGA Entertainment will let you know that their dolls are targeted at the 8-12 year old market. Experience shows, however, that children of a much younger age, often only four or five years old are attracted to the brand.

Marketing Experts talk of a phenomenon, which they call Kids Getting Older Younger. They seem to believe that firstly this can be a fact of today's world, secondly it's not an issue and thirdly they are merely reflecting this within their brands rather than in lots of ways being responsible for the trend. No matter blame, our children are more sophisticated than ever before. However, does the Bratz brand promote values that any parent will be happy for a twelve year old to see, let alone a kid of four?

From the outset, a word that you'll hear used again and again in the marketing of Bratz is 'Sassy'. Leaving aside, for a moment, that this is the toy industry's favorite euphemism for 'sexy', what does the dictionary tell us about the word 'sassy'? Impudent, improperly forward or bold, rude and disrespectful. Any child psychologist will tell you that doll play can be an extremely important section of a kid learning appropriate behavior for real life. Are these actually the values you want to teach our children?

The blatant commercialism of Bratz also causes many parents to baulk. Children are taught by Bratz that the main things in a girl's life are appearance, make-up, clothes, boys and dating. This encourages them to miss the important developmental stages of middle childhood and travel straight to the pre-occupations of an adolescent world, creating a new generation of good little consumers on the way.

Of course, it isn't all bad. Bratz are the first fashion dolls to market in any numbers that move away from the 'white and blonde' clich� of Cindy and Barbie, supplying dolls with an assortment of ethnicities. They also have slightly more realistic figures than their predecessors. Friendship is one value that is positive and is ever present in descriptions of the dolls.

However probably the biggest criticism made by parents of Bratz is their clothing. In the past, Bratz dolls have appeared in miniskirts, fishnet stockings, and feather boas. Of course, children will inevitably desire to copy. Whilst discussing this issue of the sexualization of young children, the American Psychological Association were heavily critical of Bratz. They stated that evidence showed that sort of sexualization had a negative effect on a girl's self-confidence, body image, self-esteem, sexual development and mental health.

Needless to say, MGA Entertainment will tell you that it's around the individual parent to decide if Bratz dolls are suitable for their kids. However, so called Children's Marketing Gurus have already been teaching another philosophy for a long time. They tell the toy companies quite simply not to worry about whether parents like their products. Just pitch at the youngsters, and allow nagging factor do the others.

Whatever you opt to do as a parent, it's a tough choice. Good luck!

Duncan Conner is Managing Director of Bus Stop Toy Shop. Most likely the smallest toy shop in the world in the tiny Scottish town of Largs. He's also a big kid himself. Visit the Bus Stop Toy Shop website at:
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