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> "I have a passion for making things that kids want, and I have a passion for winning" - Isaac Larian Are you kidding me? You exploited these kids' minds and
by acchow 13y ago
> "I have a passion for making things that kids want, and I have a passion for winning" - Isaac Larian
Are you kidding me? You exploited these kids' minds and brainwashed them into wanting your product which has dealt irreparable harm to their self image.
I can't read the rest of the article; I'm too upset by his self delusion.
- verroq 13y agoWas there anything you wanted that wasn't influenced by society?
- eru 13y agoFood, water, shelter, sex?
- chris_wot 13y agoThe food you choose to eat is influenced by your surrounding society. I'm glad you drink lots of water :-) but the shelter you live in, and your idea if attraction is also influenced by society!
- acchow 13y agoI desire many things due to external influences which aren't harmful to me. A doll with a 18 inch waste and impossibly large breasts doesn't fall under this category.
- thaumasiotes 13y agoIt is, in general, much easier to sell a person something they already want than to convince them that they really want the thing you happen to have on hand; the article notes explicitly that the guy was convinced he should make Bratz after his daughter liked a prototype. Chimpanzee girls play with dolls (chimp technology isn't quite at our levels, so their dolls are just sticks they found). As a side note, one thing that somehow saddens me is modern Chinese terminology for dolls. 娃娃[wa wa] is a word for "baby" (how they got the idea to refer to babies as "wa wa", we may never know ;) ), and is also the standard word for "doll". A traditional doll is referred to most explicitly as 布娃娃[bu wa wa], "cloth doll"; it's the kind of doll a little girl might make for herself out of some spare material. The term for a nice doll, the kind you'd buy in a store? 洋娃娃[yang wa wa]. "Foreign doll".
- brg 13y agoInterestingly, yang wawa is also the term used to described children of Chinese and mixed ethnicities.
- yen223 13y agoI don't think I've ever heard people using 娃娃 to refer to anything other than dolls. Is it just me?
- thaumasiotes 13y agoWell, without asking for help from an actual Chinese person, I can say the following: - my dictionary includes several words where 娃娃 seems to refer to a child and not a doll, e.g. 抱娃娃 娃娃兵 娃娃车. It's conceivable that they're all metaphors, I guess. - I tried once to refer to a doll as 娃, mirroring an actual usage I'd seen, and my then tutor (from Guangzhou) complained that with just one 娃 you're referring to a human. Having become ashamed of my lazy answer, I just asked a college student in Shanghai; she informs me "you can call a baby 娃娃".
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- mudil 13y agoWhy don't you read the article, and learn something from a person, an immigrant, who became a billionaire? FYI, no one can become a billionaire without delivering value.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- ledge 13y agoSure, under an extremely loose definition of "value". What about a billionaire cigarette tycoon, drug lord, or arms dealer? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_M._Kelley http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_M._Kelley http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapo_Guzman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapo_Guzman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adnan_Khashoggi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adnan_Khashoggi Their product had "value" in the sense that somebody was willing to pay for it, but clearly it's possible to become a billionaire while having a net negative effect on society.
- schaub435 13y agoPlease get over yourself.
- chris_wot 13y agoHi, you appear to be new here. These sort of uncivil comments are largely frowned on. Please take the time to review the site guidelines, it makes it much more pleasant if you follow them!
- rschmitty 13y agoThe same could be said about a number of billionaires. "Having a passion for making ____ and a passion for winning" - Rich guy Where ___ is something harmful to society/morals/environment
- crusso 13y agoIf anything, the products that seemed so cool to me on TV in my childhood taught me that most of it is crap and can be ignored. The kids in the commercials had so much fun with the toy and then when you get it home and out of the box... it may well disappoint. Sounds like a great lesson to teach. The younger, the better. At least the guy is just selling toys. Beats the heck out of a politician trying to force his grand schemes on everyone in society.
- lnanek2 13y agoDo you really think a fat muffin top doll with no makeup or sexy miniskirt would have sold? Consumers at large don't want to buy reminders of their own rotten, overweight, barely getting by reality.
- rayiner 13y agoChildren aren't "consumers." They're not adults capable of properly evaluating things and making informed buying choices. Products marketed at children carry a special moral consideration that products marketed at adults do not.
- acchow 13y agoThis should be the top comment. I wish I could have articulated my thoughts the way you did.
- selmnoo 13y agoIf we're going that way, what about adults who have below 100 IQ? Or people suffering some mental disorder -- eating disorder, drug addiction, depression, impulse control disorder, poor memory, etc. They're not capable of properly evaluating things and making informed buying choices either. I can assure you that my 11 year old niece will make better buying decisions that benefit her in all sorts of ways, than the homeless guy down the street, who I suspect is under a serious bout of depression. I'm not being flippant, I'm interested in reading the logic you're operating on. I don't see how you can argue that there are moral considerations when advertising to children, but then ignore a really significant part of the population that is also being exploited in pretty much the same way. Either advertising has moral hazards all around for everyone of impaired and/or undeveloped intelligence -- young and old, or it doesn't. I don't see how you can pick and choose.
- harryh 13y agoYes, if you're marketing something specifically targeted at people with an "eating disorder, drug addiction, depression, impulse control disorder, poor memory, etc." than you have moral considerations above and beyond products targeted at regular adults.