Comments on: Do girls really need Polly Wheels?

By: Build-A-Toy-Car idea has wheels « Heather Yaxley - Greenbanana views of public relations and more

Tue, 29 May 2007 15:58:13 +0000

[...] Posted in Motoring, Public Relations by Heather Yaxley on the May 29th, 2007 Having moaned about Polly wheels (toy cars for girls), I really like the concept of Ridemakerz stores where customers [...]

By: Heather Yaxley

Heather Yaxley — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 18:45:20 +0000

On the bizarre imprisoned theme, I have a jar of pickled people on my kitchen windowsill that I brought back from the US nearly 30 years ago (don’t ask me why). There are two “people” made from stuffed stockings and sealed in a small jar. They have little visual appeal but have been with me too long to throw away now.

If you’ve never seen such a weird item, I found one on eBay - http://cgi.ebay.com/Pickled-People-in-a-Jar-Vintage-1978_W0QQitemZ160091052031QQihZ006QQcategoryZ19257QQcmdZViewItem - apparently they were very late 1970s.

By: Judy Gombita

Judy Gombita — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:25:52 +0000

Oops. Note that the links are in reverse order to commentary. Sorry about that.

By: Judy Gombita

Judy Gombita — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:24:24 +0000

I’m absolutely delighted you picked up (and enlarged on) my favourite imagery. So. I’ve just wasted about 10 minutes (but only after submitting an editing job to a colleague!), trying to remember the name of the scented, tiny dollies. Quite possibly it was the Strawberry Shortcake line, although today’s version doesn’t quite live up to memory in terms of nonsensical objects of desire (and sans cages):

http://www.feelingretro.com/view_toy.cfm?id=92

BTW, I found you some imprisoned dolls that you can purchase at Tesco, thereby demonstrating that isn’t merely a North American “option”:

http://toynewsi.com/news.php?catid=182&itemid=8834

(P.S. I do remember My Little Pony, but believe it was a later marketing scheme galloped out to impressionable little girls and parents with open wallets.)

By: Heather Yaxley

Heather Yaxley — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 07:55:40 +0000

Jill - I agree in that girly toy cars are unlikely to influence purchases - and maybe it is possible to overdose on “Barbie” pink and in fact become innoculated to “cutsie”. It would be interesting if Barbie and other dolls did have more varied tastes in their vehicles than always off-roaders or sportscars in pastel colours (although I appreciate this style is easier to get a doll into and out of).

Judy, I am not familiar with the imprisoned dolls but do remember various crazes such as My Little Pony where mothers reportedly used to spend time grooming the brightly coloured creatures. A lot of toys for girls are quite weird - I find over-realistic baby dolls a bit creepy.

As for scent - maybe the boys’ cars should smell of sweaty socks and rotting snacks left under the bed, of is that too sexist of me? Wasn’t there a fad for erasers that had fruit smells (until little children ate them)?

I’m sure a fortune is spent on researching children’s toys as it is a mega-market. And after a visit to my 9-month old niece last week, I thought she’d got some really interesting developmental toys - and some horrible noisy ones with tinny electronic music and lots made from plastics that cannot be good for the environment when the toys are eventually broken and dumped.

By: Judy Gombita

Judy Gombita — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 12:51:53 +0000

In my youth I remember a brief frenzy of “need-to-have” highly scented (rather creepy) little dolls with hot pink, bright purple, etc. big hair (they were housed in small, clear-plastic “bubbles” that were decorated with flowery motifs). They were definitely targeted at girls. Although the gender-targeted colour choices for Polly Wheels is hardly radical, what about the decision to add a fruit scent? I don’t recall my younger brother’s Hot Wheels set ever smelling of anything but kid grime. Do you think marketers have been scientific in determining that little girls are influenced in their choices of toys by scent? Or is this just a one off?

(Note: I never received or asked for one of those imprisoned, highly stylized dolls. And even as a child, I found the scent that emanated from them overpowering and quite synthetic.)

By: Jill Blake

Jill Blake — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 16:51:36 +0000

Girls move away from little toys/ clothes that are pink very early. I think this has a very short life span for most girls: two years say? Not long enough to infiltrate the female mind into thinking they want a jessie car when they grow up. My daughter is eight, she’s stopped playing with her barbie car already. She’s like me, she likes shiny, see-your-face-in the-bodywork black saloons with leather upholstery.