Second Topic alternative

If you have no interest in DC or Marvel maybe you'd like to commeny on this clip I saw on a news site today:

Racist Playmobil?

This subject about racism is in link with our presentation on Haribo with licorices which are represented as racist by some of Scandinavian consumers. That's why I choose this subject and not the other about DC or Marvel

You saw it on 20 minutes I think, because I saw the same. The polemic is about a pirate ship and especially a black man with trousers ripped and without shoes AND a "necklace for slave" ! A mother was shocked because Playmobil uses a black man to represent a slave. Alot of offended reactions appear on social network and so on. Can we play with everything? Can we let one's imagination run wild on a slavery subject?? Children are naives and innocents, that's why if a huge company as Playmobil encourages childen to play with black people as a slave, they will have a representation on their mind... It's important that young people know history, even part of history which is regrettable but... I think it is a dangerous way to talk about slavery for toys going to childhood. Moreover, imagine a black child who plays with pirate ship and its figurines, how can we explain him he has to put a necklace ( indicate by the instructions on the Playmobil packaging) for the black figurine and not for other white figurines ? We can't play with everything or we have to explain, we have to talk with child before play, it s a role-play which is very difficult to understand for preschoolers.

I totally agree with Anaël, the point is it was completely inappropriate for Playmobie to use a black-skinned Lego character, even if that was one part of the History, because that action makes it seems insignificant, like it's nothing. The child who plays with those toys sees the black man with a collar, so he won't be capable of making the difference between the toy and the reality of our world : equality of people and genders. Though, I guess Playmobil didn't make that toy to discriminate black people, but only to recreate a very precise event of History, but I still think it was not the good way to do it.

Do you think that a young child playing with this toy would really be "quietly" influenced?

Should we ignore history because we are frightened of offending people? Are they too easily offended? Is it even relevant to black skinned Americans of today?

A random young child will be a person (it's already, but it will have its own opinions and points of view), and needs, step by step, to become it. Influencing him the way this simple and tiny toy does or can do, is what we should make sure never happen. We can almost refer it to the Baby Doll test during the US Segregation, where children had to choose which doll was the best between a black and a white one. There, it's clearly more offending, because black people are showed as slaves with collars. None other representation of what is the biggest population in the US, of the president himself. That is the problem, that is what is called influence.
Black people can, and should be offended by that. I mean if those toys were educative, if they had an other goal than just making children play White people torturing or making as slaves Black people, that could be not offending. But here it is.
Today Black American are as free as we are, we are all equal, there is no special racy boss, and that is normal.

Absolutely Naima, the formulated problem here is about the image which is conveyed. In US, american people have a black man for president, how can we explain to children on one hand a black man governs United States but on the other hand they play with slaves represented by black people. It s totally rational if black people are offended.
However, we shouldn't ignore history but I think there are different ways to do it (with school, tours, documentaries and so on) but not with toys...

I think this important to not forget the history but I agree with Naima about it was not the good way to do it. In fact, Playmobil is for children who have between 4 and 10 years old and at this age, we don't know the history of France and we ignore the existence of the age of slavery. So, for me, a child who see a black man without shoes and with clothes of a slave is not able to refere that at the past. This act can create confusion for the kid. He can associate black men with bad men. So, I don't know if it's a good idea to do that. Like Anaël said it, I think too this is the role of education to learn the history at the kids and not the role of toys.

Thanks to you I discovered that playmobil is racist toy… I saw the character shows like a slave, it’s horrible, where is the legal department of this firm?! I decide later my children will play with Lego ! Moreover this racist toy don’t have nose this is ridiculous…

Oops this Playmobil choice is not very smart. I don't know if Playmobil is racist. The History is racist, i don't thing we have to hide this terrible thing, but young children should be protected of this kind of human violence. But after, they have to know the true, and don't make a past better than it was. Learn about past allows to understand the present and to anticipate the future.