Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Sugar, doot do doot do doot dooo, oh honey honey...

One of my favorite games when I was a little kid was Candy Land. I've never been a big fan of candy, but something about the colors and the drawings mesmerized me.

When I played the game, the the box and board looked something like this:










Now, there's an updated version. Check out the box and board for the 21st century Candy Land:





What's different about these two versions of the game?

That's right, the newer version has more than just the blond, blue-eyed children represented. Yay!

Take a closer look at the new board...

How come the two blonde kids are holding hands, and the two kids of color are holding hands?
How come the two blond kids are in the front, with the kids of color in the back?
How come there are two blond kids in the first place? If they had only had one blond kid, they could have put in an Asian or Indian kid too. Or a kid in a wheelchair. Or, ooh--a blond kid in a wheelchair!

So white parents, (or white parents-to-be,) let me ask you these questions:

Would you buy this game for your kids if the white kids were in the back of the line?
Would you buy this game for your kids if there were no white kids represented at all?
Why or why not?

This may seem like a minor thing to some, I think that it's subtle messages like these that influence results like the ones we see here.

As always, I welcome your comments.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:42 PM

    Being white, I don't know that I would notice where the white kids are. I would probably not buy it if all the kids were black. It seems to be impeeding on another culture. Like me getting a perm to straighten my hair. KWIM?

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  2. Mrsmarlowe I just wanted to comment on your comment...
    I wonder how it would be impeding on another culture to buy a game with all black children on the box? I'm curious to hear more about your idea.

    Comment on the original post:

    I think it's interesting how our thoughts/beliefs on culture get passed down, and how something so simple as having the black kids in the back perpetuates that. It has serious implications visually. Children internalize it, they are not stupid.
    While it might seem like an insignificant thing it speaks volumes to me.

    As a future parent, and a girl raised in a multicultural family, I think that I would buy the game if it was all black kids (but again it's hard to predict the future and where my suppressed bias might rear its head.)

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  3. it would never cross my mind where the blondies were at. if the game had all black kids I would buy it as well.

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  4. I bought this for my 1st daughter. I never even looked at the picture. I'm not sure I would even give it that much thought about black and white kids...but I'm not sure I'd buy it if there were Middle Eastern kids on it as they might be toting oozies over the bridge.

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  5. Thanks my friend for your comment about Harmony day in Australia. I think that you are on the right way with your US president.

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