J.C. Penney's Forward Command Post
December 5, 2002 2:46 PM Subscribe
J.C. Penney's Forward Command Post, featuring a bombed out home to familiarize our children with urban warfare. Fleeing refugees sold separately.
This post was deleted for the following reason:
First, this is an old, old meme.
Second, what's intrinsically wrong with familiarizing children with urban warfare? Am I bad person because I played with G.I. Joes when I was a little boy?
posted by oissubke at 2:52 PM on December 5, 2002
Second, what's intrinsically wrong with familiarizing children with urban warfare? Am I bad person because I played with G.I. Joes when I was a little boy?
posted by oissubke at 2:52 PM on December 5, 2002
To be honest, i'm glad that children can still get their hands on violent materials. I grew up as a product of doom, quake, plastic army men, and trips to the shooting range. I feel awful for the new crop of kids raised on harry potter, veggie tales, and non violent educational video games. In the 17 hundreds people were still hung publicly. The mothers of the time might have complained about the scarring impact it had on the kids, but i doubt it. I hope they sell hundreds, and that kids across the country play with their tanks, soldiers, and choppers. Blowing up things in a virtual battle field, all day.
posted by sourbrew at 2:54 PM on December 5, 2002
posted by sourbrew at 2:54 PM on December 5, 2002
World Peace Keepers Battle Station
Poor marketing...the times have changed from 30 years ago, complete opposite of what I would have imagined.
As a young lad I made similar toys like this. But no
posted by thomcatspike at 2:57 PM on December 5, 2002
Barbies Dream House: The Nightmare Version. Now available in stores. If dolls aren't your thing, try model trains. Want a Real One[PDF]?
posted by blue_beetle at 3:02 PM on December 5, 2002
posted by blue_beetle at 3:02 PM on December 5, 2002
Certainly less violent and graphic then the Lego warzones I created as a kid. At least with these playsets you won't have heads rolling (literally) and little plastic torsos and legs lying everywhere. And the larger size means no more "missing in action" cases when the vacuum cleaner comes around.
I find it a pity not that kids have access to these things, but rather that Kids toys require the child to use his/her imagination less and less these days (like that stupid "Harry Potter" lego set).
posted by dazed_one at 3:10 PM on December 5, 2002
I find it a pity not that kids have access to these things, but rather that Kids toys require the child to use his/her imagination less and less these days (like that stupid "Harry Potter" lego set).
posted by dazed_one at 3:10 PM on December 5, 2002
there's a difference between banning all forms of toy warfare and calling Penney on one of their mail-order MBA product line managers' decision to save a few bucks by reusing a dollhouse injection mold to create a "forward command post" by changing the colors a bit.
Come on. It's a damn dollhouse, and it's a little creepy. (I actually did think this link was a case of a web designer screwing up his img tags before I saw the 55 gallon drums in the kitchen.)
And where's the imagination? when I have kids, should they want to stage great wars in the living room, I'll steer 'em toward the Legos. You can actually simulate battle damage with Legos.
(on preview: me too, dazed)
posted by Vetinari at 3:21 PM on December 5, 2002
Come on. It's a damn dollhouse, and it's a little creepy. (I actually did think this link was a case of a web designer screwing up his img tags before I saw the 55 gallon drums in the kitchen.)
And where's the imagination? when I have kids, should they want to stage great wars in the living room, I'll steer 'em toward the Legos. You can actually simulate battle damage with Legos.
(on preview: me too, dazed)
posted by Vetinari at 3:21 PM on December 5, 2002
A big cardboard box, a toy gun, and a pocket knife are all any boy needs to save tens of thousands of dollars in therapy bills later in life.
posted by oissubke at 3:26 PM on December 5, 2002
posted by oissubke at 3:26 PM on December 5, 2002
If this had been marketed as French D-Day Front Line Bunker or some such, nobody would have ever blinked.
As it is, this is being very savvily leveraged for propaganda by the anti-war lobby -- note how the "bombed out Barbie's Dream House" meme shows up unadulterated (or unquestioned) in the ABCNews story, written two full months after the antiwar.com page made the rounds online.
Frankly, though, I fail to see what everyone is exercised about -- what is a war zone supposed to look like? Is it right to give a kid a combat helicopter, but not the bombed out house? Does the toy imply civilian casualties -- or refugees? (Antiwar.com makes a big deal, somewhere, about it being a "war crime toy".) Are the people who live there forced out by the big bad guys with guns -- or are they being defended by them? Nothing in the toy inherently suggests either, so although I suppose one is free to supply a personal interpretation, protesting it seems a little silly.
posted by dhartung at 3:31 PM on December 5, 2002
As it is, this is being very savvily leveraged for propaganda by the anti-war lobby -- note how the "bombed out Barbie's Dream House" meme shows up unadulterated (or unquestioned) in the ABCNews story, written two full months after the antiwar.com page made the rounds online.
Frankly, though, I fail to see what everyone is exercised about -- what is a war zone supposed to look like? Is it right to give a kid a combat helicopter, but not the bombed out house? Does the toy imply civilian casualties -- or refugees? (Antiwar.com makes a big deal, somewhere, about it being a "war crime toy".) Are the people who live there forced out by the big bad guys with guns -- or are they being defended by them? Nothing in the toy inherently suggests either, so although I suppose one is free to supply a personal interpretation, protesting it seems a little silly.
posted by dhartung at 3:31 PM on December 5, 2002
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posted by thomcatspike at 2:51 PM on December 5, 2002