It's never too young to stereotype

Over the last few weeks I've been tuning in to CITV of a morning simply because they're re-running "The Batman" cartoon. Damn fine show but it does mean getting exposed to a whole heap of children's adverts.

There's the Mighty Beanz ad for a race track - build the track, fire your beans up to the top and watch them race down; played with by two boys of course; what piqued my attention was one of the track layout options presented "the u-curve" um but doesn't that mean that the 'bean' on the inside has an advantage over the other?

There's also the crash race track, which I have to admit seems to understand its market well. Again played with by boys you send your cars into a loop to crash, but here's the clever part - it seems there a plate at the base of the loop you can load it with six (?) toy cars, hit the button, and watch them being propelled into the air just to crash into each other. No waiting just simple mindless destruction, over and over again.

Also amusing is "by Character". You get some girl (or boy) to restate the name of the product and then get replaced by what is a probably trademarked voice announcing "by Character" I just find it funny.

Speaking of Character what are the point of Zhu-Zhu pets?

One scary advert was for realistic animals, they had realistic movement. If by realistic you mean sitting there and moving their heads back and forth,the scary bit though are the eyes. They glow in the dark - green. Is it just me is that nightmare material?

However what prompted this entry was a board game, a dating board game aimed, judging by the girls playing it, at pre-pubescent girls. You get clues from a telephone as to whom you're dating "Will he be geeky [picture of guy with glasses] or gorgeous [male model pose]" hey HEY why can't he be both?

Oh and The Batman and it seems most of the shows are sponsored by Bakugan a game played apparently by flicking marble like robots at each other then claiming victory for no apparent reason. Yay I won!