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Sunday, April 13, 2003
Bullets and Bunnies
By BRENDA HARTMAN
Press Enterprise Writer
Easter baskets stuffed with toy soldiers and grenades rather than chocolate bunnies and jelly beans, and the retailers selling them, are under attack by some outraged parents and grandparents across the county.
Deeply offended to find toy assault rifles, tanks and bombs in baskets wrapped in pretty pink and yellow cellophane, some individuals have protested at stores in Oregon, California and New York. There have been some arrests.
The shoppers are upset on multiple fronts with some saying the baskets are inappropriate at a time when the country is at war. Others believe bullets and bunnies don't mix anytime.
And still others complain that peace -- and not war -- is the message of the Christian holy day.
"From any angle I look at it, they're inappropriate," said Daphne White, director of the Lion and Lamb Project, a New York group trying to stop the marketing of violence to children.
The controversy has drawn an apology from Walgreens stores, which yanked the baskets from its shelves in recent weeks, saying it had reconsidered the appropriateness of the baskets.
But Kmart and Wal-Mart continue to sell them. A few were found in piles of toy-filled baskets at stores in Berwick and Bloomsburg.
Retailers say the baskets have been around for years. Some people like them.
"We're getting mixed feedback both positive and negative," said Abigail Jacobs, Kmart spokeswoman.
"We've heard from people who say now is not an appropriate time. And we're hearing from people who say now is the best time.
'War's not play'
Critics say this year stores had large and prominent displays of what's been dubbed the "militant" baskets.
White of Lion and Lamb said her organization isn't leading the charge against them, but it has heard from numerous parents and grandparents. It agrees that the baskets are objectionable.
"Candy and Easter and war are not connected and should not be put together with a bow wrapped around it," said White. "War is not children's play."
White said she's never seen one product stir so much rage. Lion and Lamb yearly puts out a list of "Dirty Dozen violent toys."
Protesters have been popping up at various spots across the county, including Kmart stores in New York and California, the company confirmed. In one case, a mother showed up at the store wearing bunny ears and with a homemade sign: "Someone's in my Easter basket ... and it's G.I. Joe."
White said the stores are just trying to cash in on the war and the country's patriotic mood.
"They are exploiting children to make a profit," she said. "Three-year-olds don't understand patriotism."
White questioned what children are learning when they are given plastic weapons and candy.
"That's not a gun-control statement," she said. "What are we teaching children about violence?"
Baskets not new
But where some see violence, others see heroism and patriotism. Following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, toy firefighters were the hot item.
Diane Cardinale, Toy Industry Association spokeswoman, said no one is being forced to buy the baskets.
"A consumer who feels that these items are unsuitable has the ultimate veto power to simply not buy them," she said.
Easter baskets featuring toy soldiers aren't new and haven't ruffled customers in the past, she said. TIA denies claims that there is a direct link between certain toys and violence in society.
"At least two companies have been producing these baskets for the past three years with retailers receiving no complaints about their availability," Cardinale said.
"Historically, little boys have played with military toys for hundreds of years, going back to the original tin soldiers," she said.
Who was risen, anyway?
Some religious groups have lashed out about the baskets, saying linking soldiers and war toys to the Easter celebration of the resurrection of Jesus is bizarre and in very bad taste.
But whether Easter baskets are stuffed with toy soldiers or Barbie dolls, they send the wrong message to children, said Gerald Iverson, spokesman for Alternative for Simple Living, a group fighting over consumption and the consumerization of Christian holy days.
"It's about consumers buying and aquiring more stuff," Iverson said of the baskets. "That's the underlying message. Anything that will sell."
His group, which is known for the "Whose Birthday is it, anyway?" Christmas campaign, urges people to reject "stuff" and find meaning through relationships with family, friends and God. Tell children the stories of their faith, he said.
"The retailers will go as far as we let them," Iverson said. "That's why we can have something as preposterous as putting a symbol of death into an Easter basket."
www.lionlamb.org
www.simpleliving.org
Reporter Brenda Hartman can be reached at 387-1234, ext. 1323 or by e-mail at [email protected].
