My thoughts:
Playmobil doesn't reflect our cities. It doesn't reflect the world. It is a business, and as a business it exists solely to make money. It makes money by producing things which the majority of its target market/countries will buy.
And yes, in the cities of its targeted countries, there is great diversity. But in most smaller towns and villages of those countries, there are only a few examples of diversity. Or even none. At least, none of the easily recognisable ones. And probably those smaller towns and villages. added together, are actually the majority of the country. And a business wants all those people to buy their product.
Now in one's life, in one's street, in one's social group, if one is part of a minority group (and I'm part of a few), then the 'grouping together' (by family, or by common minority concerns) can make it seem as if one is part of a very large amount of people. But countrywide: maybe not so.
So, however we feel about our own community, I guess that businesses don't particularly want to focus on the minority money. They'll just go for what is the majority.
And until the majority spenders really want and demand those 'other' minority groups as play toys for their kids - I don't think it will change.
Does that make me OK with that? No, not at all. But I can't change the world. I can't change the ideas of the majority buyers. I can't grab hold of the 'majority-targeted-type' parent in the street, and say, no no no, don't buy the Playmobil (or any other toy) that looks like you: buy your children the toys that look like (or has something in common with) me.
And so toy manufacturers continue to please them. Not aim their products at me.
But .... I'm not a child. I can try my best to make representations of others that are around me. Sometimes I am puzzled about how to do something (I'm still looking for a turban that shows NO hair, for a Sikh man), but I'll get there in the end. It's a challenge to our creativity.
And ... sometimes ... we fail to spot diversity anyway. I recently posted a zoo story. In that story, anyone who read it probably noticed the wheelchair-using woman. And the various colours of skin.
But did anyone notice the lesbian couple? No, not by stereotype - but I know who they are. (Clue: look to the left at the first shot at the Meerkat enclosure. They are not holding hands, but they are touching hands at that point.) There's a lone (male) parent (he comes from another story, so it is a fixed fact about him and his adventurous - eg in the playpark - daughter); a Modern Orthodox Jewish woman (she's wearing a sheitel - wig - which is why her hair shows); a man with Down's Syndrome (an old painted head - which I attached to a modern body - has a Down's Syndrome appearance to it - he is one of my favourite klickies). There are men with children; diverse ages/generations together; one grey haired (heterosexual) couple on a day out together with no children; several mixed-race families; and women with kids (minus men) enjoying themselves together too.
Businesses will make their money.
But we can do what we want with what we buy.
