And this year's TOADY Award goes to...

Sorry I've been so woefully neglectful of my duties as a blogger lately! The move from NH to VA a week ago Sunday was, to say the least, overwhelming and, unfortunately, I've been sick for most of the time I've been in my new home. But I'm on the upswing now and trying to get back in the game!Here's the news from the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood...

The people have spoken. Inspired by Nickelodeon's blatant disregard for children's well-being, you overwhelmingly chose AddictingGames.com as this year's winner of CCFC's TOADY (Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young Children) Award for the worst toy of the year.   With an astounding 64% of the vote, AddictingGames.com easily outpaced its TOADY rivals:  The Little Tykes Young Explorer (18%), the BARBIE DOLL'D UP NAILS Digital Nail Printer (8%), the EyeClops Mini Projector (5%) and the Halo United Nations Space Command Turret (5%). 

Nickelodeon's decision to exploit its reputation as a family-friendly company by linking to the games directly from its popular websites for young children earned AddictingGames.com the award for worst of the worst.  TOADY voters were aghast that Nick allows children such easy access to the horrific content on AddictingGames.com, including the Perry the Sneak series, where gamers take the role of a peeping Tom trying to catch revealing glimpses of naked women showering--and successful voyeurs are rewarded by getting in bed with their prey; Stick Dude Killing Arena, the object of which is to "Train to Kill Until You Die"; and Kitty Cannon, where players can "make Fluffy bloody" by shooting a kitten out of a cannon onto a row of metal spikes.  The fact that the games are free, making them accessible to any child with Internet access, was another reason voters frequently gave for why AddictingGames.com got their TOADY vote.

Since December, more than 4,000 parents have written to Nickelodeon to demand that the children's media empire remove the links to AddictingGames.com from Nick.com, NickJr.com and Neopets.com.  But Nickelodeon refuses to grant parents even this simple courtesy, suggesting that keeping children's eyes glued to advertiser-supported screens by providing edgy content is much more important to Nick than honoring parents' trust.  (One advertiser for Perry the Sneak 2 is Lunchables, Kraft's popular brand of packaged lunches for young children.) If you haven't done so already, you can demand that Nickelodeon stop promoting AddictingGames.com on its websites for young children by clicking here.

So congratulations, Nickelodeon.  We know you've won a few Emmys and Peabody Awards over the years.  We hope you saved some room on your mantel for the 2010 TOADY!

Thanks so much to all of you who participated in the TOADY process by voting, campaigning for the worst toy of the year, and for letting others know about the Award.  Many of you were also kind enough to let us know the rationale for your vote.  To see why CCFC members voted the way they did please visit http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/actions/whyyouvotedtoady2010.html.

This was the one I voted for. I have zero tolerance for abuse to animals, and the last thing we need is to make the practice acceptable to young children!

Comments

[Razvan]

Nice post. I got lots of Little Tikes toys for my son and they are all great.