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Just want to highlight the fact that manufacturing huge volumes of cheap plastic toys is not necessarily something to be celebrated.
by TaylorAlexander 6y ago
Just want to highlight the fact that manufacturing huge volumes of cheap plastic toys is not necessarily something to be celebrated.
- bluedevil2k 6y agoMoral police alert!! Care to expand on your condemnation of the company? Or is this just a random “big companies are evil” kind of negative comment?
- ireflect 6y agoFor many kids, this kind of toy has a short window of novelty and then waits in a closet until its time comes to go to the landfill. We should be extra skeptical of consumerism that targets children. I think that’s what GP was getting at.
- bluedevil2k 6y agoWell GP is wrong. I have a 10 year old girl, I’ve bought a dozen of these, and she loved them each time. Yes, she may play with them only for a few hours each, but if it brings a smile to her face & makes her happy for many hours, then I think most parents agree it’s worth it.
- deepzn 6y agoWhat ever works for you man. That stuff is meth, trash, superficial garbage.
- kgraves 6y agoThat kids can grow out of, it's harmless than actual 'meth' and other 'addictions' adults almost never 'grow out of'.
- TaylorAlexander 6y agoDo you know where our plastic ends up? Every documentary I’ve seen on the subject shows that our plastic ends up with no oversight in some poor country while children literally sift through it for pennies a day.
- drak0n1c 6y agoOnly due to the recent habit of tossing toys and all kinds of junk in recycling bins, where they don't belong. Over-recycling is worse for the planet than simply throwing away garbage responsibly. Most parts of the US have no shortage of landfill space.
- brendawalsh 6y agoMaybe your plastic. Mine is transported several miles away, where it is buried and can then leech into the river, which is used as our water supply downstream. But, yeah, who decided to put the water treatment plant next to the landfill?
- smabie 6y agoUnlike the cultured and refined stuff you like, I assume?
- kinghtown 6y agoAnd your kids are watching Godard films?
- powercf 6y agoThe amount of plastic waste around some of these toys is shocking: https://youtu.be/CZpG032TR5A https://youtu.be/CZpG032TR5A. It reminds me of the packaging around AMD Threadripper and Intel 9900k packaging - both also very wasteful. If they only make a child happy for a few hours then it's probably not worth it.
- HeWhoLurksLate 6y agoOne of my friends built a PC into his dad's Threadripper box, inspired by this: https://www.anandtech.com/show/14473/spotted-at-computex-a-ryzen-pc-in-a-threadripper-retail-box https://www.anandtech.com/show/14473/spotted-at-computex-a-r... Remember, these things are targeted at a subset of an enthusiast market (and some HEDT stuff, too) and are mainly Halo products- and for many people, if they're paying $600 for a CPU, a nice box / unboxing experience is a quite nice touch.
- anm89 6y agoShe may have only played with them for a few hours but the plastic waste will outlive her by 100x. You really can't see anything negative here?
- rdtsc 6y ago> For many kids, this kind of toy has a short window of novelty This one takes it to the next level. It "hacks" that by selling these toys in an opaque plastic container and they have "rare", "ultra-rare" etc types. So kids get hooked on wanting to collect all the dolls looking for a specific ultra-rare one, and having to buy lots of these things including duplicate ones.
- puranjay 6y agoI don't know. I had a bunch of toys growing up that I retained. They're kept in a little glass cupboard in my house. My nephews love playing with them whenever they're over. Something that lasted two generations certainly seems good value to me.
- Fricken 6y agoRegulations restricting advertising at children turned Saturday morning cartoons into unboxing videos. I'm glad I grew up in the 80s.
- TaylorAlexander 6y agoI think I made myself clear. Manufacturing huge volumes of cheap plastic is currently a very ecologically damaging thing. Since my home town is currently engulfed in flames I have been thinking a lot about human impact on the climate. And it feels increasingly shortsighted to read articles that say “wow look at all the money this person made” without addressing the ecological impact of their work. Some toy companies make long lasting toys from 100 percent post consumer recycled plastics with minimal packaging. But this guy who made billions probably did it with big shipments of virgin plastic made from who knows where. I see no reason why highlighting the effects of such businesses should be condemned here. I wanted to temper some of the euphoria that comes to us Silicon Valley types when billions in revenue comes up.
- brendawalsh 6y agoHave you read the book ‘Natural Capitalism’? There is a point made that the current costs are not adequately addressed, and instead externalized to the public. It was written in 1999.
- TaylorAlexander 6y agoI haven’t! Looks like there’s some lectures on YouTube under that title, I’ll see if any are the original author and listen to those. Don’t get in to many books lately.
- kgraves 6y agoWhy? At least they aren't yet another subscription company ever. Let the kids have their toys.
- TaylorAlexander 6y agoPlastic waste is a major ecological problem. https://youtu.be/c8aVYb-a7Uw https://youtu.be/c8aVYb-a7Uw
- zuppy 6y agoyou are right, but of all the shit we use the plastic for (like bottles of water, or beads in a shower gel), you decided to start with toys?
- kazinator 6y agoMaybe it's just chronological order. Though the absorbent plastic gel in a disposable diaper should be first, then.
- atupis 6y agoBurning plastic should be first https://cen.acs.org/environment/sustainability/Should-plastics-source-energy/96/i38 https://cen.acs.org/environment/sustainability/Should-plasti...
- mattigames 6y agoWith social issues I have noticed this trend that is always deemed that one is trying to solve the issue where someone else thinks there is "a bigger threat" one should be concerned instead, in other words if this was a conversation about bottles of water someone would chime in: "Why not start with toys? At lest bottles of water have a practical purpose to make it easier to carry water?"
- prawn 6y agoTo be fair, it is a discussion about toys, right?
- maxden 6y ago"We need to make the ultimate unboxing toy." from the article certainly makes that worse too.
- zuppy 6y agothat’s not supposed to be interesting for you, but for a kid. and belive me it is, you can see it in their eyes. how they shine after you get the first paper printed clue (that is hidden before one of the layers), how they can’t wait for you to help them remove the others and the final joy when they find a new toy (and there are many different dolls, you will find new ones pretty often). do i like it? yes and no, all i’m thinking of while unboxing is of how much plastic is wasted, but this in not for the kid to worry
- c22 6y agoI've seen a kid's eyes light up trying to find scraps of paper I made to look like pirates and hid around the house. I've watched a kid spend two solid hours throwing rocks into the ocean. There are a lot things that bring joy to children. Most kids would be thrilled to receive half a can of warm Dr Pepper and a handful of M&Ms but I think many parents would be hesitant to offer this experience routinely.
- brendawalsh 6y agoAll true, but still made me chuckle.