I took some choice excerpts from this article by Maura Flynn at biggovernment.com People with some sense have to start paying attention to this kind of thing and make the companies pay.This missive is directed at the guardians of, and donors to, tiny humans. If you fall into that category you likely are already familiar with Build-A-Bear, a world-wide corporation that provides the most innocent of services. They sell customizable stuffed animals. Make your own bear, dog…penguin. Cute concept.
So cute, in fact, that the Build-A-Bear empire sweeps across nearly every state and into 17 other countries. You’ll find their outlets in shopping malls everywhere and even some ballparks. The company also has a website called Build-A-Bearville.com where children can play an interactive video game that, on it’s surface, is unlikely to raise suspicion or sound alarms.
But when your unsuspecting tot logs on and hops a virtual train to the North Pole…you should know that he or she will be informed — by Santa Claus — that Christmas may be canceled this year due to Global Warming.
Needless-to-say, this constitutes brainwashing on the sleaziest and most sinister level. The good news is that this nonsense isn’t coming from our government this time and the rocky economy is our friend here. People, we have the means, if we have the will, to topple these charlatans who shamelessly prey on little children. So boycott Build-A-Bear. And, more importantly, tell the world why.
If this kind of crap pisses you off, please go read the rest of the article ... there's even a video at the link.
Posts
2 comments:
maybe they should change their name to "lets help to build a myth"
This is nothing new. There is a commercial for toontown.com that is shown regularly on kids' channels. My son wanted to check it out so we did- with my supervision. There are plenty activities to play although it's obvious that they want you to pay to play more games. There's nothing wrong with capitalism. They might be pushing the envelope of ethics but I wasn't overtly offended.
What I DID find offensive though was their characterization of the characters wearing suits. These were the "bad guys". They were rude and pushy and were continually grousing about climbing the corporate ladder, being late for a meeting, and taking advantage of poor people. I'm not exaggerating.
The idea is that you earn points so you can buy pranks to pull on these bad guys. One of the "pranks" is to throw pies at them. Even at this early age, they're teaching people that throwing food is a good idea.
I uninstalled the game and my son has never asked about it again. They're just lucky there's not a successful business person anti-defamation league or they'd be in a heap of trouble.
Post a Comment