This morning, Fisher Price unveiled its brand-new top secret project: a souped-up 10-year anniversary version of Tickle Me Elmo they are calling T.M.X. Elmo. The X, of course, stands for extreme. I saw a clip of this toy on the internet today and it seems pretty cool -- when you tickle the doll, it starts giggling and flapping its arm. Then, it falls down and eventually doubles over in laughter onto its back, kicking its legs, rolling around and continuing to pound its arms against the ground.
What isn't cool is the price and the marketing scheme. T.M.X. Elmo costs $39.99 and requires six AA batteries, which are included. It's a lot for a toy that does one trick and gets really annoying and really old quite quickly. Fisher Price has also been trying to generate buzz by deliberately withholding pictures of its product from the public until today. In stores, the doll is packaged in such a way that you can't even see it without purchasing it and opening the box at home. Fisher Price is obviously trying to recreate the frenzy of the original Tickle Me Elmo, during which fistfights broke out as aggressive parents competed to snatch the (deliberately?) undersupplied dolls off store shelves or out of other parents' hands.
Perhaps I'm being way too naive, but it bothers me that a children's toy is being used as the basis for such a shameless cash grab and marketing ploy. I would hope that companies engaged in the business of entertaining children would be more genuinely concerned with their stated mission rather than the underlying bottom line. Then again, is it really the kids who are being marketed to? Or is it the aggressive parents who want to be the first ones on the block to get (what they've been told is) this incredible new toy for the children, just so they can prove to themselves and their neighbors what wonderful parents they are.
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