When Kids' Toys Go Bad (and by 'bad', I mean 'ooooh so bad' grrrowl)

I don't even know where to begin. Or even how to start this blog post while maintaining the high sense of decorum and dignity that you all have come to expect from me as a blogger.

But let me try this approach ... you know how some things are marketed for one purpose but you and/or McGuyver find many other purposes for it? For example nail polish is used to color nails but can be used to stop a run on your pantyhose; a jelly jar was intended to hold jelly but is more often used as a flower vase; milk crates are converted to bookcases; wire hangers can be used to break into cars; etc. etc. You get my drift. Okay.. hold on to that. I'm going to come back to it.

You also may recall that I've been looking into cute little girly-girl gifts and the ultimate princess idol is Hello Kitty. If you are new to this blog, feel free to visit the posting about how Hello Kitty has the ultimate bad girl gift... a gun.

But I think I've come across something more 'feral' regarding Hello Kitty. It's getting to the point where the Hello Kitty people need to revisit their marketing plan. I mean, I can't be giving my daughter Hello Kitty gifts AT ALL. It just ain't right. In fact, it's downright criminal.


Case in point, Sanrio, the Hello Kitty people, have reintroduced the Hello Kitty line of shoulder massages. Now, these skinny and vibrating pink shafts were a HUGE seller in the 70s when they were first introduced. Can you imagine why? Well, that takes me back to the first paragraph.

According to today's NYT's article, "The vice president for marketing for Sanrio’s American division, Andrea Sobel, stands by the wholesome intentions of the Hello Kitty brand. “I have no idea what people may have used it for,” she said. “The product was marketed as a shoulder massager. That’s what it was sold as.”

Yeah. Right. Just like I'm sure the people who sell Rubber Cement glue are convinced that people only buy it to glue two slabs of paper together.