Toys Encouraging Alcohol Use By Children

Toys pushing alcohol to children are everywhere. Click here to see a short montage produced by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. You'll be surprised how often are kids are being sold cute, cuddly, excuses to drink.

Bratz Formal Funk FM Limo
For Ages 6+
MGA Entertainment
16730 Schoehborn Street
North Hills, CA 91343
(800) 222-4685

This working FM radio is modeled like a limousine that children can use to play along with their Bratz fashion dolls. Even the name Bratz suggests to children that being bratty is glamorous. Some parents express ire that Bratz products are designed solely to sell provocative clothing and anorexic body shapes to impressionable young girls.

The Limo goes a step further, it has a bar in it. The company calls it a "Smoothie Bar," though it's hard to see which of the toys pictured are used for making or drinking smoothies.

It also comes with toy glasses--champagne glasses. Children below the age of 7 DO NOT have the ability to distinguish fantasy from reality. Children about that age slowly develop this ability, assuming their innocence is not used to dupe them along the way. How many adults do you know who believe that bars in Limos are used to make smoothies? Is Bratz asking our daughters to believe that the adult world is not as it truly is, or does this company really want to see children become alcoholics? After all, the package promises "It's a party on wheels!"

Simpson's Tie-Ins


This trivia game toy asks children the question, what would Homer do? Let's consider how the Simpon's portrays Homer: He's a binge drinker, his best friend is a drunk, and one of the frequent settings for the show is Moe's bar. Clearly, Homer would abuse alcohol and then celebrate doing so. This trivia game does its part to portray to children that alcohol abuse is just good fun. It weaves "Duff Beer" into many of the game's questions and answers.

Besides the constant repetition of glorified drinking in this cartoon (including numerous scenes of bad boy 4th grader Bart getting drunk), spin-off toys carry the drinking message directly to children. The sign included with this Larry Burns doll says "Gone Drinkin." And the face of this Simpson's watch says: "The cause of and answer to all life's problems-Alcohol."

Without even questioning the appropriateness of creating cartoons (supposedly for adults) that glorify drinking, the examples shown here are clearly aimed at children, carrying the message that drinking is a fun part of play.

The Mckenzie Brothers

Every successful media enterprise now markets action figures as a way to eek out every last penny in potential profits. Many examples exist of dolls being created for R-rated movies and TV-13 television shows being marketed to children, sometimes as young as 3 years old. Just visit your local toy shop to see all the wrestling and movie "heros" marketed to kids well below the recommended ages for children viewing their shows.

These dolls however, the McKenzie Brothers, are strictly about drinking, as evidenced by the beer bottles and cases of beer included with the toy. Their movie was based on a plot to rescue a brewery and drunkeness is the primary comic vehicle their act is built around. Yes, lovable drunks being sold as role model toys to children--does it get any lower?

Dale Ernhardt.Jr. NASCAR Toys
Ages 4 and up
Action Performance Companies, Inc.
4707 East Baseline Road,
Phoenix, AZ 85042-6430
(866) 503-1214

The car pictured here, though touted as being Dale Ernhardt's, is missing its most important identifying mark--the Budweiser logo which dominates the hood and side panel of the car in real life--not to mention the Budweiser uniforms that Ernhardt and his pit crew wear. Instead, Dale Ernhardt's name is shown. Click here to see clips of how often alcohol logos are placed in televised sporting events, including clips of the real Ernhardt car and crew, complete with their Bud logos (large file ~ 70mb).

It's laudable that Toys R Us was selling the toy car without it's identifying beer logos. However, what message is truly sent to children? Once a child begins to idolize Ernhardt as a hero or role model, the child will begin to seek out more collectibles and view his races. During an average 3 hour race, a child will see the Budweiser logo at least 6,000 times.

And just in case your children doesn't think that drinking and driving is only a game, he or she can visit the Budweiser web site. Your child has to say he or she is of the legal drinking age to get in. There's no proof needed to be verified as an adult -- only a child's word -- although age verification technology is simple and inexpensive to install. Once in the site, a child can download racing games featuring Ernhardt's Bud car with the logos displayed prominently.

Secret Spells Barbie
Ages 3+
Mattel Inc.
El Segundo, CA 90245
(800) 524-TOYS

Mattel Corporation has proven over the years that it is no friend of children. Barbie is world's leading role model for anorexia. If Barbie stood 7' tall, her waist would only be 19" around! In the '90s Barbie became a tool of commercial consumption. In quick succession there was "Shopping" Barbie and "Mastercard" Barbie. And following the trend of selling sleaze to children one of the most recent Barbies seems to have turned to prostitution. Click here to see "Lingerie" Barbie Movie (large file ~ 47mb).

Be sure to note how the PR flak that shills for the toy industry tries to tell us that Barbie is designed for 14 year olds, and that any problem with the toy is the fault of parent's who buy it. (That explains it--I forgot that companies who profit from the sale of destructive goods to kids have no responsibility for how their products are used. It's the fault of us lousy parents :)

Although this Barbie does not outright push alcohol consumption, I find the drinking implications disturbing. The toy is marketed with the slogan "Mix Potions You Can Really Drink!"

And although the "cauldron" packaged with the toy seems to be something designed to fit in with the décor of Barbie witches, the actual glass the child drinks from is nothing more than a tiny plastic shot glass.