Ethnic balance among klickies.

[bonniebeth]

The real problem is that there's no ethnic diversity in the Asian Dragon theme.

 

To me, if a child is being raised to be truly color blind, as they should be, then it isn't a matter of having klickies that look like themselves, but rather of realistic diversity. I grew up having friends of more than one race, and as a child, I was naturally drawn to dolls and toys of all colors. I am white, but one of my favorite baby dolls as a small child was black. Her name was Penelope. I didn't love her because she was black, or in spite of her being black, it was more like the race just didn't matter at all to me, because I hadn't been taught it was important. I also had black Barbies, mostly because I picked them based on the outfit they were wearing, and the race wasn't a factor. Isn't that how it should be? If you teach children they should pick out toys with the same race as themselves, you are teaching them that races should not intermingle, or that they are so different from people of another race they can't possibly be friends with them. Because the dolls are rarely supposed to BE the child in the child's mind. They don't name their dolls or klickys their own name.

[tahra]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/23/business/worldbusiness/23toy.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Thanks for the link. Interesting. Especially these two paragraphs:

Still, Ms. Schauer, who remembers being one of the first girls in her class to own a Barbie doll, is very careful about not messing with Playmobil's image. This is a company that makes firefighters, construction workers and Roman gladiators — not flaxen-haired fairy-tale nymphs.

"We don't want to pretend to be something we're not," she said, in a dig at the impossibly proportioned Barbie.

I wish they'd remember that last sentence 

[Birdie]

Still, Ms. Schauer, who remembers being one of the first girls in her class to own a Barbie doll, is very careful about not messing with Playmobil's image. This is a company that makes firefighters, construction workers and Roman gladiators — not flaxen-haired fairy-tale nymphs.

Unfortunately, that was in 2006. In June 2015 I spot four of those blonde & pink 'princesses' on this page of the webshop alone:

http://www.playmobil.be/on/demandware.store/Sites-BE-Site/nl_BE/Search-Show?cgid=Maerchenschloss

[cachalote]

from some time now, i think that geobra wants playmobil to be "everything".
hans beck days with solemn declarations of no noise, no violence, etc. are long gone.
maybe we'll see the launch of a playmo-chimaera, half dragon, half barbie, with sirens and loudspakers with screams and songs attached to its left, and with a lot of weapons mixed with small children figures attached to its right.
will it sell?
maybe the real question is - do you want it to sell / do you want to sell it?

maybe geobra is not aware of what they sometimes do - i don't know.
they are capable of such amazing an beautiful designs that such mistakes are difficult to accept.

the idea to ask them to be a part in u. n. global compact the i posted in another thread - http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=14755.0 - could be a way to forget all excuses and reinforce attention.
to grow up, as rasputin brilliantly said.
when you declare you share some principals - https://www.unglobalcompact.org/AboutTheGC/TheTenPrinciples/humanRights.html - maybe you'll actually do an effort not to forget them.  

[Macruran]

Unfortunately, that was in 2006. In June 2015 I spot four of those blonde & pink 'princesses' on this page of the webshop alone

Now that Beck and Brandstaetter are both gone, I think PM is heading for an identity crisis of the sort L*go faced some years ago. Fairies and Super 4 is just the beginning.

I also had black Barbies, mostly because I picked them based on the outfit they were wearing, and the race wasn't a factor. Isn't that how it should be? If you teach children they should pick out toys with the same race as themselves, you are teaching them that races should not intermingle, or that they are so different from people of another race they can't possibly be friends with them. Because the dolls are rarely supposed to BE the child in the child's mind.

To wax quite serious for a moment: not entirely. I live in the USA, which as everyone knows has racial problems. It is often argued by African Americans that there should be more black representation in various areas precisely because they want black people to have images that resemble them. Here's just one example. I could pile up many more. In fact here's one in which the white mother of a mixed race child writes that Playmobil's white figures make her "sick to her stomach".

The fact is that not everyone in this country is in agreement about what the future should look like. Some people, favour the MLK vision of a colorblind society that you describe. Others are moving in a more separatist direction.

So it's complicated.

[cachalote]

a good way to remember good things could be:
a special release thomas jefferson klicky to comemorate the 240 years of the (north, excluding canada and mexico+ if you consider mexico to be north and not central) american declaration of independence.
the one that states:
"we hold these truths to be evident, that all men are created equal..."

a little bit like playmofriends guidelines:
"welcoming of all races, religions, sexual orientations/identities, and cultures..."

i know that jefferson's declaration continues with "that they are endowed by their creator..." wich leaves a certain here-we-go-again feeling in atheists or poliheists or agnostic people.
and i also know that mr. jefferson had some contraditions (to say the least) between what he wrote and how he behaved regarding slavery.

the difference is that he is dead and can do nothing about it (including defending himself) and we are still alive and can.
if we want to.
and the klicky could turn out great

[cachalote]

on second thoughts, a chimera wouldn't be a very bad figure to add to the medieval theme.
ate least it could be a not-another-light-pink-skin-color klicky. 

[Ismene]

To me, if a child is being raised to be truly color blind, as they should be, then it isn't a matter of having klickies that look like themselves, but rather of realistic diversity. I grew up having friends of more than one race, and as a child, I was naturally drawn to dolls and toys of all colors. I am white, but one of my favorite baby dolls as a small child was black. Her name was Penelope. I didn't love her because she was black, or in spite of her being black, it was more like the race just didn't matter at all to me, because I hadn't been taught it was important. I also had black Barbies, mostly because I picked them based on the outfit they were wearing, and the race wasn't a factor. Isn't that how it should be? If you teach children they should pick out toys with the same race as themselves, you are teaching them that races should not intermingle, or that they are so different from people of another race they can't possibly be friends with them. Because the dolls are rarely supposed to BE the child in the child's mind. They don't name their dolls or klickys their own name.

I agree, but before children can embrace toys of all ethnicities, that diversity must exist in toys. If they are constantly presented one image of humanity, it makes them aware of race and desperate to find an image that looks like themselves. This is particularly dangerous in toys that represent ideal beauty (in Playmobil - princesses, brides, fairies - we've had so many fairies in the mystery figures and they're all white).



Growing up, the one baby doll I cared for at all was the one and only brunette. She was incredibly pale, but all my other baby dolls, all my Barbies (save one knock-off Skipper that was African American), my porcelain doll, the evil battery operated almost life-sized doll, the large rag doll, the girl on one of my sweaters, and even the stupid fairy on my bedspread were blonde, blue-eyed, and pale skinned - most wore pink. They were gifts from well-meaning, probably race-blind people (my parents didn't have the money to buy us much). Playmobil was the most diverse - they actually had different hair colors.

[Ismene]

a good way to remember good things could be:
a special release thomas jefferson klicky to comemorate the 240 years of the (north, excluding canada and mexico+ if you consider mexico to be north and not central) american declaration of independence.
the one that states:
"we hold these truths to be evident, that all men are created equal..."

a little bit like playmofriends guidelines:
"welcoming of all races, religions, sexual orientations/identities, and cultures..."

i know that jefferson's declaration continues with "that they are endowed by their creator..." wich leaves a certain here-we-go-again feeling in atheists or poliheists or agnostic people.
and i also know that mr. jefferson had some contraditions (to say the least) between what he wrote and how he behaved regarding slavery.

the difference is that he is dead and can do nothing about it (including defending himself) and we are still alive and can.
if we want to.
and the klicky could turn out great

That's one gorgeous purple coat.

[tahra]

This is particularly dangerous in toys that represent ideal beauty (in Playmobil - princesses, brides, fairies - we've had so many fairies in the mystery figures and they're all white).

All white - and most pink too! (exception for the orange lady, which is why she stands out, me thinks).

Actually, the last figures-girls didn't only had one of that new silly darker white, right? the bellydancer? Not a single black or indian one...