Playing with Culture: Toys, TV, and Children’s Culture in the Age of Marketing
Author(s)
Kline, Stephen
Abstract
A child’s play behavior constitutes an essential part of his or her cognitive development, emotional maturation, and socialization. Since the deregulation of television, the imaginative play of children has been structured increasingly by animated television programming and marketing strategies that target children’s emotional investment in toys. This selection argues that the developmental benefit of some toys is compromised by marketing activities that inhibit creativity in play behavior and calls into question the large role that the market plays in the production of children’s culture.
