By Mark Wilkinson, Associated Press, 12/04/00

WASHINGTON -- As Christmas shoppers gear up for the holiday season, a U.S. consumer group Monday accused the toy industry of deliberately marketing violence to children.

The Lion & Lamb Project released its "Dirty Dozen List" of violent toys and denounced the sales techniques used by the toy industry and entertainment companies to market these toys directly to young children.

"The dirty little secret is out," The Lion & Lamb Project executive director Daphne White told a news conference. "Entertainment companies are marketing violence directly to kids and the toy industry is sending the message to children that violence is fun and violence is child play."

White said the toy industry uses the so-called whine factor -- an advertising technique that makes children whine to get certain toys -- to market toys based on violent video games and movies usually restricted to older audiences.

White's accusations echoed a recent report by the Federal Trade Commission that found patterns of "pervasive and aggressive marketing" of violent materials to children by the entertainment industry.

The Dirty Dozen list singled out so-called Joe Camel toys such as the four-foot Wolverine Battlin' Bop Bag, a character based on the PG-13 movie "X-Men" that aggressively dares children as young as five to "hit me in the head" with "fists full of metal."

The list also included Game Boy versions of adult video games Metal Gear Solid, Turok 3 and World Wrestling Federation dolls -- Bone Crunchin' Buddies -- whose bones crunch when their arms and legs are twisted.

White said it is dangerous to market such toys to young children because those under 8 years are unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality and this in turn could lead to violent behavior.

"Violence is a learned behavior," White said. "Every toy is educational. The question is what do you want your children to learn?"

The Lion & Lamb Project is a national parents organization working to stop the marketing of violence toward children.

VIOLENCE CONVEYED BY TOYS

White said her research had shown that violence conveyed by movies, video games and toys does contribute to more violent behavior in children.

But the toy industry, represented by the Toy Manufacturers of America (TMA), argued children are influenced by the environment they are reared in, not toys.

"There is no such thing as a violent or nonviolent toy," TMA spokesperson Pamela Johnston told Reuters. "They are inanimate objects that do not motivate violent behavior."

White agreed parents have to be responsible but noted they have to go up against as much as "$1 billion in advertising from the toy industry."

White also said less-heavily advertised nonviolent toys, such as board games, are not necessarily boring.

"We need to reintroduce kids to the notion that you can have fun without blowing things up," White said. "A pretty radical notion!"

The 12 toys identified as violent by the project were:

- Goldberg Smash & Bash Game, by Hasbro

- Bone Crunchin' Buddies, by Jakks Pacific

- Metal Gear Solid, Revolver Ocelot by McFarlane Toys

- Turok Primagen, Omniversal Annihilator, by Playmates

- Wolverine Battlin' Bop Bag, by Toy Biz

- Pokemon Battle Stadium, by Hasbro

- Dragonball Z action figures, by Irwin Toys

- Laser Challenge, Gotcha Extreme!, by Toymax

- Nerf Wildfire, by Hasbro

- Bionic Commando Elite Force for Color Game Boy, by Capcom

- Turok 3, Shadow of Oblivion for Color Game Boy, by Acclaim

- Metal Gear Solid for Color Game Boy, by Konami