[TheBlueMarvel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VashTS

I teach kids and i tell them it's better to say something than regret never saying it. Obviously there are times when it's kb your best interest to stay quiet.

But essentially we must complain. To many products die because of lack of knowledge or care especially when there is no competition.

I lived Breyers Ice cream but 5 years ago they changed their ingredients and added cheap filler that they claimed improved the product. In reality it destroyed the best big brand available. Long story short, complain and bad mouth it much as possible was the right thing to do. Not enough did and its now just trash like every other big corporate owned brand.

If we as consumers truly care we will demand better from them. They can shove that Jubilee baf you know where. Give me My real Baf.

I hear you, but as my post alluded to (I detailed a list of personal druthers I have with the ML series), you are preaching to the choir when complaining here...or at the very least, when complaining to me.

Like you, I also have a background in child education and guidance. I have taught, managed after-school programs, directed community centers, and worked as a child & family intensive in home therapist for kids involved the NYC family court system (kids in and out of juvenile remand - aka juvenile detention/jail)....so I can appreciate both advocacy and dissent as it pertains to systems of power and "faceless" bureaucracies. What I have expressed to kids (and adults) in the past is that American history provides many object lessons demonstrating the power of boycotts. In this modern world of consumer driven hyper-materialism, the only recourse available to us...the only tool in the shed that makes the powerful pay attention...is keeping your dollars in your pocket. Whether we are talking about the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955 (protesting segregation and "Jim crow" south), or the more recent divestiture movements on college campuses nationwide (aimed at encouraging universities to refrain from investing in the fossil-fuel industry)...stopping the flow of money is quite effective in humbling the powerful. If you are truly that upset about where the ML brand is going, my suggestion to you is not to buy any of them. Speak with your wallet, because that's the only thing to which corporations will respond.

I suspect, based on some of your posts, that there are a few new ML's that you buy in spite of your lamentations. If that's the case, then you might be undermining your own hopes that Hasbro will take corrective measures. If you do still buy MLs, then you may want to focus on what they are doing right so that they continue to do (at least) those things correctly. As we both know from our shared experience of working with young people, you get better results using positive reinforcement than you do employing its negative counterpart (with respect to complaining - boycotting is a different matter entirely and more political in nature) . As I have often shared with clients/students/peers/colleagues/friends....you comin' up with all lemons? Make some lemonade baby! Tell them what they are doing well, and they (Hasbro) just might be more receptive to constructive critique.

Keep in mind that I do not disagree with you, it's just that I have read your complaints about this very issue on multiple occasions and you seem pretty vexed about the matter. Why frustrate yourself so? Either boycott or find something redeemable about the toys you are spending hard earned cash on...otherwise, you might be spitting into the wind.