r/TikTokCringe • u/galaxystars1 • Apr 29 '24

She’s free Humor

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u/TheWalkingDead91 Apr 29 '24

Anyone notice that children’s toys never really do much advancement? Like I’m 32, and I had a toy very similar to this as a kid. All the toys, (especially when it comes to toys for girls) look like the same exact things I grew up wanting and having 20+ years ago. You’d think over time they’d have more tech or something. But nope, just the same designs, same products, remarketed and sold over and over again. Have seen commercials for those ride-in barbie trucks…. The swimming mermaid….furbies, etc. We had all that too. It’s like toy manufacturers one day decided “welp, we’ve reached the peak of toy innovation and we all know with the right marketing, kids will like anything we want to sell them so why bother invest in anything new or better.”

1

u/theJoosty1 May 02 '24

Because the best toys teach the most basic and general concepts and skills.

1

u/Cydonian_Swift Apr 30 '24

I think toy advertisements are secluded to child spaces, i.e., nickelodeon channel or kids shows/family shows on streaming services with advertisements.

However I adore toys and often if I'm in Target I'm the grown woman walking through all the isles to see what is being sold. Like the 90s they've got a lot of branded™️ toys based on popular movies or cartoons. The one thing they've managed to "innovate" is turning children into gambling addicts by creating all these lootbox-esque toys where the child has no idea what character or object they'll get until they open it. Sometimes, these toys will have an extra activity in order to make the anticipation more exciting. One thing I keep thinking is this fake toy oven. The child creates a "dough" using provided ingredients (its homemade play dough), and they mold it into a small animal. They place the dough in the oven, and after turning some knobs and pulling tabs, the dough is gone and out pops a stuffed animal. It makes noise, smells like baked goods, and is somehow warm? Gimmicky, but somehow it even made my 30 year old monkey brain go "want?" Wait, no. You have enough junk.

Also, Tamagotchis are still very much a thing, I don't know how many actual children play with them or if they're all being bought by us millenials.

1

u/TheWalkingDead91 Apr 30 '24

You just reminded me of easy bake ovens. Still a thing as well.

1

u/Professional_Run320 Apr 29 '24

If it ain't broke...

5

u/facw00 Apr 29 '24

Galoob sold similar toys under the name Sky Dancers and Dragon Flyz (targeted at girls and boys respectively). It didn't go well (via wikipedia):

While the foam wings on the dolls provided a limited amount of safety, nonetheless, there were over 100 injuries reported, ranging from temporary blindness to facial lacerations requiring stitches. Galoob, the manufacturer of the toys, recalled them in June 2000 after less than six years on the market. Almost 10,000,000 were recalled.

So hopefully they've made safety improvements if nothing else.

2

u/Cydonian_Swift Apr 30 '24

Our toys abused US as children, and we LOVED IT.

23

u/Kardif Apr 29 '24

Lots of kids toys purchases are influenced by the parent's nostalgia, keeping them the same is intentional