Webkinz

----Portrait of a Webkinz Kiddie Krack Addict----

In Tuesday's class, Maria brought in a clipping about a new children's toy: Webkinz. Like Beanie Babies, they are "limited edition" collectible stuffed animals, but with a difference. "Webkinz pets are lovable plush pets that each come with a unique Secret Code. With it, you enter Webkinz World where you care for your virtual pet, answer trivia, earn KinzCash, and play the best kids games on the net!" at least according to the hype on their website.

They're hyper money makers, too. The marketing news website, MarketVox, has an interesting article about their use of "social media" as a marketing tool. All in all, Webkinz look to be a product thoroughly embedded in digital communications technology on every level: product, activity, sales.

Maria raised some interesting questions in class about the consequences of such a toy. While marketing pundit B.L. Ochman thinks they're the greatest thing since sliced bread, she makes her living hyping cash cows and not examining the social, political and emotional fallout of, well, greed. She raves, "Besides teaching children to type, it helps them learn reading, spelling, logical thinking and, perhaps also kiddy gambling. But, the FAQs maintain, "While the Wishing Well and Wheel of WOW use visual metaphors that are sometimes associated with gambling, there is no gambling involved."

Somehow I don't go to a products on FAQ's for reassurance about its dark side. But then my job is to train people to think and hers is to stoke consumption frenzy.

A brief search via Technorati, the search engine for blogs linked to on the side of this page, produced this interesting discussion. More in line with Maria's remarks, this blogger wondered about how such web-based play would affect the already expanding problem of child obesity. She also quotes from a Washington Post article on the Webkinz phenomenon:

""Play always reflects the adult world," said Christopher Byrne, an independent toy analyst who goes by the Toy Guy. "It's kids aspiring to have a MySpace page, but cognitively and developmentally, they're not ready for that. This gives them the experience of sharing and connecting with friends."

While I have my doubts about Toy Guy's "independence" as an analyst----how are his remarks different from any industry shill's?----he does zero in better than B.S. Ochman on what the toy maybe in fact teaching: it's teaching how to used the internet for some uses, but not others.

And I think that might be an interesting point of entry for a good essay.