Toddlers coming of digital age
Bruce Horovitz
USA Today
April 30, 2008
Tot toy marketing
giants from Disney to Fisher-Price are nudging
preschoolers as young as 3 years old to put down their
sippy cups and pick up digital cameras that can cost as
much as $60.
Disney is newest to the fray, set for a fall rollout of
its $59.99 Disney Pix Jr. digital camera that was tested
for durability by — among other things — tossing the
rubberized camera down concrete staircases.
There's a burgeoning market for techy gizmos for
preschoolers. Even as the $22 billion toy industry saw
its sales fall 2% last year, sales of electronics
targeting kids grew 2% and topped $647 million at retail
for the 12 months ended in February, reports NPD Group.
"Toy manufacturers are very smart and very aware of what
kids are doing," says Anita Frazier, industry analyst at
NPD. "They've asked themselves: How can we capitalize on
this trend?"
But some child advocates are questioning if digital
cameras are appropriate for preschool play. To make a
buck in a tough economy, they say, toy marketers are
simply lowering age targets for adult-oriented
electronic gadgets such as digital cameras.
"You could buy a lot of crayons for $60," says Susan
Linn, director of the children's advocacy group Campaign
for a Commercial-Free Childhood and author of The Case
For Make-Believe: Saving Play in a Commercialized World.
"This is the marketing world's push to drive children to
digital screens and away from creative play."
Instead of playing with digital cameras, kids 3 to 5
should be playing with sticks, stones and mud, says Joan
Almon, chairman of The Alliance for Childhood, a
children's advocacy group. "The camera becomes the lens
though which they see the world. It's one more thing
that gets between a child and a direct engagement with
life."
Toymakers strongly disagree.
•Disney. "This generation of kids is born with
technology all around them," says Chris Heatherly, vice
president of technology at Disney Consumer Electronics.
"It's not something they grow into, it's something they
grow up with."
The camera has a special feature that can place Disney
characters such as Mickey and Minnie into photos.
The camera, which has Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and
Disney Princess versions, comes with a one-year limited
warranty.
•Fisher-Price. "We saw kids wanting to take pictures
with their parents' $300 Sony cameras," says Lisa
Mancuso, vice president of marketing. "We filled a
gaping need in the marketplace."
Fisher-Price was among the first two years ago with its
$59.99 Kid-Tough Digital Camera. This fall's model has a
waterproof guarantee.
•Little Tikes. At $39.99, the Little Tikes My Real
Digital Camera is among the least expensive.
•VTech Electronics. Its $59.99 Kidizoom Camera takes
digital video and has a 90-day warranty. "It adds to the
parental arsenal of entertaining kids," says Samara
Tuchband, marketing chief.