“Children’s Shows Have Turned Into Commercials”
Okay, this feels a lot more what I expect to encounter when I seek information on toys and cartoons from the eighties. Yesterday’s positive newspaper article from 1984 gets an opposing point of view today: The February 16, 1985 issue of The Palm Beach Post pulls no punches in going after animation studios and toymakers.
“In today’s world, a “big toy” comes with a television series as if it were a battery. The manufacturers at the toy fair boast openly about television “backup” and “support” for their new line. But they aren’t just talking about 30-second television ads anymore. They are talking about 30-minute television ads.”
Transformers, Masters of the Universe, GoBots, and others all get mentions in the story, as does Peggy Charren of Action for Children’s Television (see Wikipedia), an advocate group that fought toymakers throughout the seventies and eighties. I wasn’t surprised at all to spot Charren’s name in the article; her name was exactly what I was searching for as I explored the Google newspaper archives for the opposite side of yesterday’s positive post.
Related articles
- “Bionic Babes in Toyland” (battlegrip.com)
- Poe’s Point > Lou Scheimer, 1928-2013 (poeghostal.com)
- Paramount looks to expand Transformers film franchise with spin-offs and more sequels (seibertron.com)
Any negativity aside, the court ban on toys and shows created a massive tv industry that employed a ton of people and started huge voice acting careers for a lot of actors.
Also made some of the best memories from my childhood hehe.