Review:
This looks at the history of marketing towards American children, in particular instances where toys were created first and then shows (thinly veiled ads, really) were created around them, like He-Man and Transformers. The book also mentions She-Ra, Disney, Star Wars, GI Joe, etc.
I wasn't always sure I really understood the distinction between companies realizing that a cartoon character is popular and putting out merchandise to capitalize on that vs. companies creating an animated show based around merchandise. Either way, an effort was being made to get children to convince their parents to buy things for them. The author definitely seemed to judge the latter more harshly than the former, however.
Overall, this was a bit choppy, and it wasn't always clear what the author wanted to say. For example, was he blaming racist reactions to new Star Wars stuff on the commercialization of childhood?
Lots of points were touched upon, but not always explored very thoroughly. Still, this was interesting, if a bit depressing, reading.
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