TOYS at Christmas are a serious business. For the manufacturers, sales in Ireland will generate an estimated £60 million. For parents, many of whom are in despair because the toy their children wants from Santa has already sold out. And for the people who make the toys? Most of them work long hours in Asian factories on low wages ... so that our Christmas stockings are filled with affordable goodies.
Transformers, Sylvanians, Nintendo, Power Rangers each year brings a fresh craze, with children's fantasies largely dictated by strategic advertising which includes the many films and TV programmes that spawn lucrative spin off products. This year's sought after toys include Baby Born, Barney the purple dinosaur and, most of all, Buzz Lightyear and his friend Woody from the Disney movie Toy Story.
"Super joy" is advertising lingo for "the gleeful hysteria" which advertisers want to create in children at this time of year, says child psychologist Dr Sheila Greene, who lectures at Trinity College, Dublin. Parents can be thrust into the pit of despair as a result of this device, especially if the toy in the advert is inappropriate, too expensive, or - as with Baby Born, Barney and Buzz Lightyear - not to be had for love or money this side of Christmas.
The large toy companies have streamlined their marketing strategies so that their products appeal to children at every level. In terms of novelty, 70 per cent of the Action Man line and all of the Barbie product line is new every year (except for large accessories, such as Barbie's house and car, which are kept on for two years at a time).
Both Mattel and Hasbro, two of the main companies, conduct painstaking research in the creation of new products. Groups of children are observed playing with the toy and their opinions are noted. "We use focus groups of boys aged between four and nine from all over the UK," says Sarah Howard of Hasbro.
"We ask them what they want. The product is often adapted according to what they say. Only after that does the toy go into production. The whole process takes about two years but it is worth the time and money." Sales of Action Man this year in Ireland and Britain alone were worth £50 million.
The invention of new Barbie products - which are sold in 140 countries - takes place at Mattel's headquarters in California. "The research team is influenced by new trends in fashion and technology," says Andrea Bergstein, a senior product manager of Barbie in the UK.
The little girls on whom the products are tested "all love hair play, and playing house." If a new product doesn't test "stronger" than the current year's product, "it is redesigned or dropped", says Ms Bergstein. Even the packaging and the TV ads are checked first with groups of girls and adults. "It is all quite sophisticated," says Ms Bergstein. "But Barbie is a big business." Indeed: two Barbie dolls are sold every second somewhere in the world.
The creation of Barbie is influenced by the awareness that she is "an aspirational toy for girls" in the words of Ms Bergstein (hence teacher Barbie, doctor Barbie and ballerina Barbie), as well as a focus for girls' fantasies (hence mermaid Barbie, and Barbie's glamorous wardrobe). The creation of Action Man is inspired by the awareness that "boys want their imagination stimulated with plenty of action and adventure," says Sarah Howard. He has evolved from a soldier (when he first appeared in 1966) to a less controversial "James Bond type".
In spite of this exhaustive research into what will grab children's imagination, the marketing of toys can be a tricky business. Merchandise associated with Disney films may not start to sell in any quantity until the video is released. According to Bruce Carswell, administrator of Supertoys in Ireland (which accounts for half the Irish toy market), this was the case with Toy Story.
Sometimes Disney merchandise never takes off: "They made all these Hunchback dolls for The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but I knew that no child was going to take a Quasimodo doll to bed" says Bruce Carswell.
As for Barney the dinosaur (made by Hasbro), Irish shops have sold out quickly because of a lack of stock in the UK: "Barney is big in Ireland, but not in Britain, probably because his American accent goes down better with the Irish," says Carswell, noting that desperate parents are ringing him night and day looking for Barney.
In spite of the vagaries of the toy industry, children continue to respond in huge numbers to the seductive maze of advertising it creates. What can parents do? "Be firm in redirecting the child towards toys which have the potential to give lasting enjoyment," says Dr Sheila Greene. She recommends bringing children into a shop where they can see the actual product, rather than an enhanced image on a TV screen.
The British Toy and Hobby Association has issued a useful booklet full of similar sensible advice called "Advertising and Your Child: A Parent's Guide".
However, the same association is challenging RTE's decision of last year not to screen advertisements during programmes for the underfives. This decision, says Paul Mulligan, marketing manager of RTE, stems from the desire to protect children in this age group because "they don't understand the concept of advertising. They see the toys and decide they want that one and that one and that one, with no idea of the commercial reality."
David Hawtin, director general of the British Toy and Hobby Association, says that the under fives are as interested in new products as any other consumers, and should be given access to toy advertisements. "Why does the industry have to take file rap so that parents can have a quieter life?" he says.
He is similarly unmovable on the subject of the working conditions of young women who make up the bulk of the labour force in Asian factories where many of the toys on sale this Christmas are produced, including Barbie, Action Man, and many of the Disney toys. "We are not party to exploitation. The women want the work. They work from May to October as long as they can to earn the money, which often goes to support their families. We would not tolerate forced labour."
Nevertheless Third World agencies from Trocaire to the World Development Movement (WDM) in the UK insist that working conditions in many Asian toy factories are still deplorable. Pay is also very low.
"A Chinese worker would have to work three months to earn as much as we spend on toys for one child at Christmas," says the WDM, which is calling for independent monitoring of the code of conduct on the safe production of toys published by the Toy Manufacturers of Europe (TME). The WDM quotes factory workers in China who say that the code is not being enforced. A 17 year old girl worker regularly does 11 hour shifts, seven days a week.
Trocaire has issued an appeal to shoppers to raise these issues with toy shops: "The transnational companies must take responsibility for the conditions in which their toys are made, especially those made by subcontractors." Bruce Carswell of Supertoys, who is secretary of the Irish Association of Toy Retailers, says that the only way to be sure that toy factories are operating safely and fairly is to make regular inspections."
Having predicted and moulded our children's desires this Christmas, already fleets of expert researchers are hard at work deciding what next year's craze will be.
