Model figures.
A few days ago I took The Scamp to a toy store; I try to stay a step or two ahead of his development, and it was time for a couple of new fun things to strew around his bedroom. I set him free to play with a train table, and I idly browsed some nearby Playmobil figure sets. Ninety-nine percent of the figures on the shelves were white, so I was surprised to spot a brown-faced veterinarian, complete with a doctor’s bag, an alligator, a lion, and a camel. I snatched it up immediately, and figured that when I got home, I could find more online at Playmobil’s website. (After all, if they have a black veterinarian, surely they have a couple of black children, a mom, a dad, a Moorish king, something.)
But no, actually, they don’t. Besides skeletons, Rebel and Union soldiers, and a HAZMAT crew, they have…American Indians in tribal dress. (I guess to go with the cowboys.) Disappointed, I emailed the German company and received a swift reply: “At this time we have not many multi-cultural figures. Thank you for your suggestion, we will pass it along.” I didn’t think it would be a novel concept to a German company that manufactures figures to play to American touchstones like the Civil War, Wild West standoffs, and HAZMAT personnel to also make some contemporary figures in a few shades of brown. Crazy me.
I can either build a wild-animal scene around our lone brown veterinarian, or I can give up on Playmobil for now and try Plan Toys or Ryan’s Room, both smart enough to make “ethnic” (black and Asian) family figures. There’s something about Playmobil’s style I really like, though, and I hate to abandon them; on the other hand, I think it’s important for my brown baby boy to see people like him represented in fantasyland.
(ETA: I found another one — a biker boy! Also settled on a zoo and a safari van. So we have a nice multiculti starter set after all. If there’s demand, maybe Playmobil will introduce more colored figures in its larger 4+ line. If not, we’ll have to settle for this tan surfer.)
June 4th, 2007 at 11:18 am
Not being a mom, I hadn’t really thought about this issue before. I think that now I will start keeping an eye out for Hispanic-looking toys, for future reference. For example, the tan surfer looks kind of Hispanic (or Polynesian) to me.
June 4th, 2007 at 11:25 am
Yeah, I was thinking the tan surfer could be Mexican, or from, like, Rapa Nui. Promising, right?
Certainly, Plan Toys and Ryan’s Room have a way to go themselves — there’s no reason to stop with black and (East) Asian family figures. I’m somewhat incredulous that in 2007 we’d have to agitate for this kind of representation. But then, I’m finding that becoming a parent makes you highly aware of how far we still have to go in terms of racism and sexism in this country, in every single aspect of life (education, housing, employment — the fundamentals).