An illustration of the title character and her cat, Custard.
Strawberry Shortcake was created in the late 1970s by the American Greetings card company. As the character became a popular fad among young girls, the company expanded the Strawberry Shortcake product line to include dolls, posters, stationary, stickers, clothing, games, etc. Beginning in 1980 Strawberry Shortcake animated specials began to air on television, joining the controversial trend of program-length commercials designed to advertise such product lines to children. To examine the claims of Gary Cross (“Spinning Out of Control”) about the negative effects of program-length commercials or PLCs, I watched the first episode of the Strawberry Shortcake television series.
The beloved board game has a longer history than you might think! Originally, the concept for “The Checkered Game of Life” was developed by the successful lithographer Milton Bradley, who was famous for his portraits of President Lincoln. In 1860 however, when Mr. President decided to grow a beard, Bradley’s clean-shaven representation was not longer favored by the American public. Looking for a new way to support himself, Bradley inadvertently developed the first of many in his successful board game business. He sold 45,000 copies of “The Checkered Game of Life” in one year. Although no price was listed for the initial cost of the game, it currently sells for around $20.
It was in 1960 that the current version of the game was developed by Reuben Klamer, as a celebration product for the 100th anniversary of the Milton Bradley Company. In 1984, the game became part of the world’s largest toy company Hasboro, when the Bradley company became a division in the company’s empire. In 1992, the board game received further modifications with the addition of “Life Tiles”-a type of chance card available upon landing on certain spaces on the board, rewarding players for things such as recycling, learning CPR, or saying “no” to drugs. According to the game description on the Hasboro website, in The Game of Life, “Take that path and see how many kids you’ll have! Will you venture down the risky road where fortunes can be won… and lost? Do whatever it takes to retire in style with the most wealth at the end of the game.”
This description provided by the manufacturer, depicts the goals of the game as being those that many associate with white middle-class families. Although the game supports Gary Cross’ view that toys should prepare the child for real life situations, the game of life seems to focus on a narrow category of the child population. With pink pegs and blue pegs, the player initially must identify themselves as an organized form of gender separation and continues to be rewarded throughout the game for marriage, children, and other “desired” qualities of the American Dream. It is clear that this board game helps in exposing children to situations they could expect, however as many toy products and popular culture through out history, those situations simulate only white middle-class.
Everyone knows that with getting older, we are destined to grow and mature and have our tastes change. This is why as 21 and 22 year olds, we do not still play with Barbies, but have other hobbies. This is explains why, when we go out to dinner, our parents no longer have to order our food for us because we know what we would like to eat- vegetables and all!
Looking back at what I was into as a child and what I am into now… Wow! I would say that has changed most of all though, my sweet tooth. Because yes, I do still play Marvel Super Hero video games and I do have some Justin Bieber songs on my iPod. However you will not find Nerds Rope, Warheads, Sour Patch Kids or Fruit Roll-Ups anywhere near my pantry.
I do still love chocolate and the occasional cup cake, I’ll even drink a Capri-Sun when they are available. But I have definitely left the childish tart candies and sweets in my childhood.
Although in my job as a preschool teacher, I still love to reward children with these silly candies. The bright colors they turn tongues, some of them are now loud and crackle, some of them still take only the bravest to eat because of their severe sourness. I have not yet joined the rest of the adult race in viewing these crazy candies as junk, and I did not agree with all of the opinions presented in Allison James’ article: “Confections, Concoctions, and Conceptions”. I think that sweets such as the ones listed above, are what help add to the realm of innocence and fun of childhood. Halloween is one of the best holidays for youngsters, not necessarily because of the costume but because of all the candy that they get to acquire, and parents loosen their tight grip on the candy limit for one night out of the year.
Instead of labeling these treats with negative connotations, adults should just accept that children are going to be attracted to childish things. It gives them a sense of feeling cool, and even builds a small hierarchy when certain children have candies that other children do not have. Let them think the world of their Warheads and Airheads, and just make sure they brush their teeth every night!
In the Care Bears “Grumpy’s Three Wishes” from September 1986, Grumpy has a mission to go help a small boy, Alvin. Along the way, Grumpy finds an eight leaf clover, granting him three wishes, but Grumpy misuses his wishes and is forced to prove himself in the battle against No Heart without the magic of super powers from the lucky clover. Grumpy, along the way, teaches Alvin that although they are small and may not have any magically powers, they, too, can rise above the situation. The episode does not seem to tie in with Cross’ argument. Grumpy and Alvin are forced to get creative and keep their hope alive until their friends return to save the situation. They prove that no matter how small you are, you can do anything as long as you put your mind to it. The small child, Alvin, learns the important lesson of keeping hope and trying his best, which prepares him for any future situations of this kind. The consumer culture plays very little role in this episode, focusing primarily on learning the lesson and defeating the evil forces, in this case No Heart. Unlike Cross’ argument, the Care Bear episode seems to have a real world connection. Although it is primarily set in a fictitious “Care-A-Lot”, the lessons from fighting the evil forces can be used in any real world situation as well. The episode also seems to use No Heart as a generic enemy, showing his evil trials against society, and enlightening children on the better ways of maintaining their society. Cross’ argument, in this episode, is invalid because the Care Bears are able to use the lessons and real world examples of carelessness to prepare children for the future.
Reiner Hanewinkel of the Institute for Therapy and Health Research in Kiel, Germany, recently published the results of a study determining the connection of alcohol use in TV and Movies and binge drinking among kids and teens. This study is reminiscent of our class discussion over whether or not TV shows and Movies teach children behaviors.
The study surveyed 16,000 students from Germany, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Scotland. Researchers asked the students to pick out at least 50 movies or shows they had seen from a list of 600 released between 2004 and 2009 in those countries. The members of the Institue for Therapy and Health Research found 86% of the chosen medias to have at least one scene in which characters drank alcohol. The research team then asked the students about their own binge drinking habits and found that 27% had done it at least once. 10 to 20% of the students who had the lowest exposure to alcohol on screen had participated in binge drinking, whereas 40% of the study participants who had seen the most alcohol in TV and movies had drank excessively.
The researchers concluded that, although, movies and TV shows may make alcohol use seem cool and mature, there is still no definite link between exposure to drinking in media and underage use of alcohol. Other factors that could be linked to child and teen alcohol use include, “their risk-taking behavior, how well they did in school and how much their friends and families drank.” Lesley Smith of Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom, does not think that study’s results should make parents panic over the movies their children are watching, but instead should make them think about changing their own alcohol related behaviors in the house.
Below is a trailer for a new movie about a wild, high school party, that shows gratuitous use of teenage drinking, “Project X”
The Lorax is one of the many books written by Dr. Seuss. The book focuses on industrialized society and its effects on the people within it. However, since the release of The Lorax movie, new controversy has arisen. In the article written by the Washington Times, ‘Controversial Lorax a Threat to Dr. Seuss Legacy?’, the writers and many others believe that the movie has a hidden agenda to it. Many believe they are promoting commercialism and green messaging. Capitalism was also promoted through a musical number. In the film, Mazda promotes it’s new CX-5. A version of the car can be seen driven around by one of the characters. The car was said to be “Truffula tree friendly”, this angered many environmentalists. They did not like fact that producers were using a children’s film to advertise their product. They felt as if it took away from the nature of the film, which was supposed to be for children. This is quite similar to Lynn Spigel’s, Seducing the Innocent. In class when we discussed 50s television, we also discussed the consumerism promoted withing children’s shows. In the show Howdy Doody, the Howdy Doody puppet was being promoted. Also, in the show Space Cadet, Kraft Caramel’s were being promoted. The way they went about promoting was throughout the show or during commercial breaks. They promoted these things because they were children’s products. However, in the The Lorax, the car being promoted is clearly not for children. It is for adults. Therefore, this product was being aimed towards adults in the audience and not the children. No child that is 5-10 is looking at the car and saying “ooh mommy I want that!” The whole purpose of The Lorax movie was changed through the promoting of consumerism. This movie was intended for children to watch and enjoy, not to sell as car.
In the Care Bears episode “Care-a-Lot’s Birthday,” Noble-Heart and True-Heart give Brave-Heart and Tender-Heart the task of organizing the land of Care-a-Lot’s birthday party. As they start out the planning, Brave-Heart isn’t very cooperative with Tender-Heart and basically does all of the planning as he wants. Then, the baby bears, Tugs and Hugs try to help and mess up the party plans when they try to help and Brave-Heart yells at them for making a mess. As Tugs and Hugs walk off because they are upset, Mr. Beastly comes and kidnaps them to take to the evil No-Heart. Eventually all of the bears in Care-a-Lot realize Tugs and Hugs have been kidnapped, so they all join together to go rescue them. In the end the Care Bears’ teamwork helps them rescue Hugs and Tugs and escape No-Heart. When all of the bears return to Care-a-Lot they realize that all of the birthday party must be planned in a short amount of time, but together they make it happen and it ends up being a great party.
After watching this episode, I do understand Cross’ argument that kids’ TV is separated from the real world. This is apparent with Care Bears because they live in clouds and have super powers. However, I disagree with Cross’ view that these PLCs don’t contain any value for children. In the episode of Care Bears that I watched, many themes popped up that I think are important lessons for children to learn. The whole episode seemed to be about working together. When Brave-Heart tried to plan the whole party his way and by himself he failed and ran into problems. When all of the Care Bears came together the party went well and they were able to rescue Hugs and Tugs. The lesson of cooperation is clearly shown in this episode even though it is shown through a fantasy world. I also think the whole Care Bears series does a good job of showing kids to care for one another and be nice. Overall, while Cross is right that shows like Care Bears are very separated from the real world, I think he is wrong that they do not have value to children. Moral values and lessons can be learned from these fantasy shows and be applied to real world situations.
