War Toys Being Rejected

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31862, 14 December 1968, Page 13

War Toys Being Rejected

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) NEW YORK, Dec. 13. American parents are rejecting toy guns and war toys as Christmas presents for their children in a reaction against violence in the country, the Associated Press reported.

The shooting deaths this year of Senator Robert Kennedy and Dr Martin Luther King, the continuing war in Vietnam, and violence in the

streets are cited as reasons for the absence of toy weapons from some stores. A survey of 60 stores in 13 states showed sharp declines in the sale of toy guns. In Columbus, Ohio, Helena, Montana, and Dallas, Texas, decreases of up to 25 per cent have been reported. Many stores have also stopped promoting and advertising war toys. At one big department store in New York, for example, the plastic Ml 6 Marauder—“so shots without caps”—and the machine-guns are shunted off to a corner of the sales floor.

“We have felt a reaction against toys of violence from parents and have directed bur buying away from this area,” said a spokesman from a Minneapolis department store. Stores that have stopped selling or promoting war toys report favourable public reaction.

War toys that continue to sell well tend to have some historical feature that gives them the connotation of education rather than violence. Cowboy pistols are the most popular of the toy guns in many areas. Several stores now bill them as “American heritage” toys.