Family diversity

[Ismene]

The thing is that Hollywood is quite notorious for excluding minorities when it comes to major roles. Recently I saw a trailer for a movie about egyptian mythology made in America, and pretty much everyone was white and couldnt pass for egyptian. That's really messed up, as messed up as the old cowboy movies with white indians.

When looking at american toys that are sold world wide, I suppose barbies may be best known and compared to that I'd say playmobil is doing extremely well with representing people. I believe they had barbies of different ethnicities, but did they ever have a ken doll who was not white?

Just saying that American toy companies are not exactly setting the best example for toy companies outside of America to follow when taking the American toy market into account.

Hollywood has its problems. There's been some improvement, but yeah... The movie industry in general is brutal. I don't think we want it for a model.

As for American toys, it depends on how much you are willing to pay. American Girl Dolls (a popular fairly expensive doll in the US) has 40 skin/hair/eye combos available in their "Truly Me" collection. You can also add things like braces or hearing aids. You don't see as many variations in cheaper AG knockoff dolls. Same with Barbie. There's more diversity among real Barbies than in the cheaper knockoffs. We had some knockoff Skippers as children; they came in two colors: blonde or African American.

[Rhalius]

Fair enough, I am not too aware of american toys I suppose. Just remember some from what was in stores when I was a kid and I give the occasional glance over other stuff than playmobil when in a toystore.

Never really played much with american toys myself when growing up, I had some transformers and GI-Joe figures and some knock off GI-Joe figures. But I gave all that away to charity some years ago.
GI-Joe actually was surprisingly racially diverse in both good guys and villains, though I remember female figures being pretty much non existant. From folders I know there where quite a few, but they just didnt really show up in stores or may not have been part of the silly looking lines they produced in the 90's. I recall an older cousin having much greater GI-Joe figures from the 80's who looked more millitairy.

[Ismene]

From what I understand, GI-Joe was developed as a boy alternative to Barbie, hence the similar scale. So I'm not surprised that female figures didn't show up much in stores, since stores probably assumed that boys didn't want to play with female dolls and that girls would have Barbies instead.

[Klickteryx]

Wouldn't it be great if you went into a store and purchased a family and they then allowed you to pick two adults and two children from available stock?
It would also be a true indicator of what figures were popular.

[bonniebeth]

When looking at american toys that are sold world wide, I suppose barbies may be best known and compared to that I'd say playmobil is doing extremely well with representing people. I believe they had barbies of different ethnicities, but did they ever have a ken doll who was not white?

Just saying that American toy companies are not exactly setting the best example for toy companies outside of America to follow when taking the American toy market into account.

Yes, there have been many black Kens, Kellys, Tommys, Skippers, Kevins, and Staceys, all of which I had at least one of except a skipper. And other skin and hair colors besides just white blondes. The vast majority of toy companies are very diverse. In fact any set can usually be bought either/or. Like if you have a FisherPrice dollhouse, you can buy either a white family or a black family for it. You can buy the white ballerina Barbie or the black ballerina Barbie. The white baby doll or the black baby doll. They're identical except for skin color. I just never felt like all my toys had to look just like me. I never pretended they were me or even that they were my babies or whatever. I had friends of all colors so it made sense to have dolls and toys of all colors.

Playmobil really isn't nearly as diverse when compared to the major American toy companies.

[playmofire]

Playmobil really isn't nearly as diverse when compared to the major American toy companies.

And there is a simple explanation for this - home markets.  The USA home market is far more diverse than Playmobil's home market, basically Continental Europe and the output of each reflects the diversity of the home market. 

[bonniebeth]

And there is a simple explanation for this - home markets.  The USA home market is far more diverse than Playmobil's home market, basically Continental Europe and the output of each reflects the diversity of the home market.

Yes, I totally agree, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Part of diversity is acknowledging that some cultures are naturally less diverse than others. There's nothing wrong with being European and living in a community that is mostly white, any more than there's anything wrong with being African and living in a community that is mostly black. It's attitudes that matter.

[Rasputin]

Throw in some respect for good measure

[Rhalius]

Well I just dont think there is any malice involved. Considering the population of Germany there actually is quite some diversity in the modern theme with different races. Sure there is room for some improvement but personly I find there are more important things to adress such as gender stereotypes.

Having a black and a chinese princess in a castle so pink that you get diabetes just by looking at it would be no substitute for having say, a colorfull Indian palace in a gender neutral theme with various indian princesses along with elephants, gardens, soldiers, tigers, marketstands and maybe some traders.

[Erik]

... a colorfull Indian palace in a gender neutral theme with various indian princesses along with elephants, gardens, soldiers, tigers, marketstands and maybe some traders.

THAT I'd buy in a second!!!