Toying with Lives

For a few quarters in a machine between the gumballs and stickers at the grocery store entrance, you can start your own collection of "Hood Hounds," little figurines of tough-looking dogs. Unfortunately, the rippling muscles of pit bulls straining against spiked collars plays into the dog fighting culture.

Playmobil goes behind-the-scenes in zoos with a feeding center and dolphin transport play sets, arguably getting at the responsibility and care involved with animals ... but they also have a circus animal trailer where you can stuff lions into tiny cages on a train, and the circus horse act, complete with whip-wielding trainer in the center.

Kids have a tendency to sponge up the messages conveyed by commercials, cartoons, and toys. What sort of message are they getting from tense dogs, cats with litters of kittens, and circuses?

Manhattan Toy has Nursing Nana dogs and cats. I remember a similar toy from my childhood of a pregnant animal with a velcro seam so you could take the babies out. The cute baby animals belie the reality of breeding and overpopulation. Does The Littlest Pet Shop get its animals from the Littlest Puppy Mill? They seem to have made an effort to counteract their name with "adoption center" play sets, but they'd be better off with a complete brand overhaul.

What if fake food sets came standard with a veggie burger option instead of just hamburgers and hot dogs? What if dog-related play-sets no longer included dog houses, moving the default home indoors? What if horse figurines only had natural hooves and not horseshoes?

It's not impossible to have socially responsible toys. Look at Pound Puppies, the stuffed animals that have put an adoption message on toy store shelves for over 25 years. The popularity of Pound Puppies is proof that teaching compassion doesn't need to cut into profits.

Although, I've always wished Pound Puppies would take their brand one step further and donate a percentage of each "adoption" to real pound puppies in need.