Violent toys more than child's play, say volunteer toy inspectors

Mennonite Central Committee
Friday, 17 November 2000

WINNIPEG, Man., - A group of volunteer toy inspectors has called for the removal of violent toys from the shelves of Winnipeg stores.

Approximately 30 volunteers -- most of them Mennonite -- performed a violent toy assessment on 12 Winnipeg stores in early November.

Wal-Mart, Toys R Us and Zellers received the worst scores. "They have large computer and video game displays. And these games are by far the most violent," said Esther Epp-Tiessen, peace ministries coordinator for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada.

Certificates of commendation were awarded to a number of stores, mostly small independent toy sellers. "It was interesting that the locally owned stores rated much higher than the chain stores," commented Ryan Siemens, a third-year theology student at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU). He helped recruit eight other CMU students to participate in the assessment.

Volunteers rated stores according to an inspection sheet prepared by Christian Peacemaker Teams, determining, for instance:

- whether display windows promoted violent toys,

- whether violent toys were displayed at a child's eye level,

- whether toy guns were sold and how realistic they were,

- whether violent computer and video games were sold, and

- whether there was any policy guiding their sale.

The campaign, called "Violence is not Child's Play," was sponsored by Mennonite Church Canada, Project Peacemakers, Christian Peacemaker Teams and MCC.

Wendy Kroeker, who attends Fort Garry Mennonite Fellowship in Winnipeg, was part of a team that assessed Toad Hall, a local, family-owned store, and was impressed with the management's receptiveness to the concerns of local consumers.

It was a different story at Wal-Mart where the manager wouldn't meet with the inspectors, stating that all toy decisions were made from a head office elsewhere.

Kroeker brought her two children to participate in the inspection. "As a parent, I have two young kids, ages five and eight, and I'm concerned about the kind of world they live in," she said, adding they face a constant onslaught of advertising that promotes violent toys.

Kroeker said her children contributed good insights during the inspection. And in the days following the inspection, her children prayed daily that violent toys would be removed from stores. "There's no coaching on this," she said.

"As a citizen of the world, if I don't speak out about the things I see as harmful ... change isn't going to happen. It's the power of one," Kroeker continued.

Epp-Tiessen said a growing body of evidence points to increased aggression, de-sensitization to violence and an exaggerated fear of the world as the main effects of violent toys and media on children.

She said she's especially concerned about video and computer games, because of the nature of play. "The person is interacting with the game. They're not just sitting and watching things happen."

At minimum, the campaigners asked that violent toys be removed from prominent displays and from the easy view of children. They are also asking stores to honor the voluntary ESRB (Entertainment Software Review Board) rating system for the sale of computer and video games, and are urging various levels of government to follow the lead of British Columbia in creating a compulsory system for regulating the sale and rental of violent games.

Siemens said he believes public inspections can impact store practices and public opinion. "That's the hope. And we'll keep working toward it."

For more information, or to contact Mennonite Central Committee, see their website at: www.mcc.org