Making Play Time Less Commercial

Though it certainly looks like fun to parents, psychologists know that playtime is a serious matter. Play is the way that children learn to understand the world around them. A toddler learns motor skills through playing with coloured blocks just as older children start to comprehend social interaction through playing with dolls. Then, through group play, kids work out how to relate to each other and (hopefully) how to share.

Commercialising Playtime

As parents who’ve seen their offspring ignore expensive Christmas presents in favour of the boxes they came in come to realise – kids can play with basically anything. However, a look around any modern playroom reveals that modern toys are far from basic. Most contemporary toys available in stores tend to be heavily branded with logos and characters. These characters are the gateway to a carefully constructed world designed by advertisers to keep parents buying branded products. Toys are linked with animated movie characters whose faces appear on everything from CDs to breakfast cereal – all potential future purchases.

Limiting Young Imaginations

So why should parents be concerned by branded toys? While it’s lovely to see kids delight in toys featuring faces they recognise, the problem comes with the kind of play they promote. They leave literally nothing to the imagination.

Even young children understand that these characters come with back stories that go beyond ‘goodies’ and ‘baddies’. Adverts, TV shows and animated movies fill in plot details plus characters’ background and motivation – leaving little for young minds to work out for themselves. This can leave kids simply re-enacting the scenarios they’ve seen in books or on TV, a process that doesn’t help to develop their creativity.

How to Fight Back

Of course, children constantly surprise us. Kids can turn brand messages upside down on their own initiative by simply dressing Ken up in Barbie’s clothes, or turning Pooh bear into the villain of their games. However, parents can also do their bit help to make play-time less commercial, and more creative.

Take time to buy traditional toys. Show your children that traditional non-branded toys can be just as fun as their heavily-branded counterparts. Many toy makers on the Internet produce beautiful products (often made with fair trade materials) without a logo in sight.
Inspire your children when they’re playing. If you see your child re-enacting the scenes shown in TV adverts gently take over and show them some new possibilities. If they tell you that a character's behaviour is 'wrong', ask them why. This will help your child (rather than the advertisers) stay in control of their play.
Talk to your children about advertising from a young age. Obviously very young children won't appreciate a lecture, but as they get older kids should be introduced to the idea that the advertisers behind their favourite brand are in the business of promotion rather than play.

Wherever in the world they're from, kids naturally love to play. That's why it's important to make sure, in the living room at least, it's not the advertisers that are making up the rules of the game.