There’s a phrase in our modern lexicon that sums up food production in the United States that goes, “You don’t want to know how the sausage is made…” The genesis of this phrase comes from that if most sane people witnessed how sausage, hot dogs, and other factory-farmed foods were produced, it would (or should) turn us off from eating it. After 20 years in the food and beverage industry, I understand a lot about how humans eat, what they eat, and what they consider “food.” And it’s disgusting to be perfectly honest. There are times when I’m at the grocery store and I look over at a person’s cart, and want to ask them, “What are you doing? Why would you eat that? Why would you feed that to your children?”
But your food choices are none of my business. Well, okay, except when your clearly idiotic personal choices are a burden on our already lackluster healthcare system—but that’s for another article on another day. How about our massive collections of plastic and rubber? Do we as collectors ever think about where our toys come from and where they go after they leave our hands? How about the plastic clamshells, blister cards, inner trays, and twisty-ties? Do we as collectors think about labor laws, carbon footprints, or karmic debt? Maybe we all should.
I recently sent an email to Mezco, Funko, NECA, Diamond Select, Hasbro, Kidrobot, DC Collectibles, and Figures Toy Company and the response to this topic was pretty much nonexistent. I asked all these very successful toy companies if they had any plans to move away from labor in China and if they were aware of how it affected both American consumer culture and the worldwide market. The problem seems very black and white—China has an advanced capitalist economy which is incorporated into the world market, but wages for non-skilled workers are as low as $100 a MONTH, a fraction of the minimum wage in the Western hemisphere. The factory price of a commodity produced in China is about 10% of the retail price here in the states. Convexly, the largest share of the earnings of cheap Chinese labor is accrued by distributors and retailers in the West. You would think that toymakers who provide joy to children would jump at the chance to at least step up to the plate and consider the “whats, hows, and wheres” of their products. Unfortunately, the faceless corporation wins out and the bottom line is the only thing that is protected.
The record for the fastest “no comment” came from Funko. It took them 6 minutes to send out the following statement:
We’re not going to offer any comment on our manufacturing or production processes at this time.
Regards, Funko
Wow. I was actually pretty impressed. I have my own personal feelings about Funko, which are well documented in previous articles. To summarize, I think their products are the worst kind of mass-produced garbage, especially the ReAction line—I don’t understand buying something cheap and ugly looking for the simple irony of it. I think their cash-grab model of getting licensing rights to beloved cultural tent poles is bad for the industry because they are just producing massive amounts of worthless “plastic trash” that inevitably just sits on the pegs collecting dust and will cause small, indie comic shops to lose money on their products, which could in turn put these fragile shops out of business. Plus, when consumer interest shrinks for franchises like The Karate Kid or Alien, other companies take note and will reconsider plunging money into their much nicer and more accurate versions of those same characters since Funko’s garbage is just warming the pegs at Hastings. I think Funko has no idea who their target market is on any given day. A Pulp Fiction Gimp action figure in the TOY aisle—have fun explaining that one mom & dad. Finally I feel that their acquisition by ACON Investments (who owns Spencer’s) is emblematic of how gross they truly are considering most malls refuse to house a Spencer’s because of their tacky products and history of less than ethical business decisions. I mean it’s a mall store that sells dildos. Rich dildos investing in dildos to sell dildos to walking dildos. Did I just blow your mind?
But 6 MINUTES to give me a no comment?!?!? Bravo! Your CEO and shareholders must be so proud. And say “hello” to Satan for me. I love his new show on Fox!
NECA (who’s business model I currently have no problem with and I own zero product from) came in second with a 9-minute turn around for a response:
I am afraid it is not our policy to comment on internal operations.
Best,
NECA
Every other company was silent. No response, no indication things are changing, no desire to comment on the how they view the labor force in China or at minimum any acknowledgement that they are looking into what is going on there. Nothing.
This a problem—and not just with the toy industry. Peruse the aisles at your big box department store and it’s really hard to find something American made anymore. Really hard. In fact the companies that do manufacture here in the States tout it all over their advertising—and they should. Weather Tech car mats come to mind immediately. After a recent trip to Nashville, I swung by Antique Archaeology, the company (now with multiple gift shops) run by Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz from the show American Pickers. If you’re not familiar with the show, these guys cruise the U.S. looking for old, American-made antiques. They cheer and boast about keeping America’s manufacturing history alive by caring about the backstory of American-made goods—yet every item with their name stamped on it in their store is, yeah, MADE IN CHINA.
I highly recommend Josh Miller’s documentary Made in USA: The 30 Day Journey about his attempt to live an existence on U.S. made products. While not impossible, it’s incredibly difficult in the era of smartphones, laptops, and big box retailers. Recently my mother bought a new flat screen television at Best Buy and the salesperson called modern TVs “disposable.” Ugh. Disgusting, but it’s true. You don’t repair televisions anymore—you just chuck them in the landfill.
And what’s this say about us as a country? Have we mortgaged our own existence to China? There are two floating piles of plastic the size of Texas in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and fish are eating the plastic thinking it’s food. Two months ago, President Obama signed a bipartisan bill that made the plastic microbeads (the one’s in your shower gel that you use to exfoliate your skin) illegal. This is a start, but a very small (some would say micro—sorry, need some levity here) step in the right direction.
And what about all your old toys? What about all the toys that have left your collection? Where do they go? I’ve talked in previous articles about how jarring it is for me to walk a 60-acre flea market and see the same plastic McDonald toys in bins on the ground for 50 cents apiece at two complete different vendors. And when they don’t sell—then what? Goodwill? Church donation? It’s most likely that they’re headed to the garbage bin—with no thought of their environmental impact and where they’ll end up. I think about the toys I had as a child, my all-time favorite being my Knight Rider Big Wheel. I rode that thing until the front wheel was so worn down that it split. The body was fine, as were the side wheels, but it was pitched by my parents who were determined to get me upright on two wheels. I was bummed at the time, but as soon as I learned to ride a bike, that thing was a baby toy, yet as an adult, I know that Big Wheel plastic has not broken down at all—and that was 30 years ago. And that’s just one toy.
In my household we recycle, but a lot of plastic is not recyclable. We take reusable bags to the grocery store, but we still have to use plastic bags to pick up our pit-bull’s poop otherwise we’ll feel the neighborhood’s wrath. We don’t drink soda or eat fast food, but we don’t have kids and have time to cook healthy meals. We don’t shop at big box retailers, but inevitably we’ll need to get something at Target at some point. We drive 13 and 9-year-old cars that get decent gas mileage, but they’re both Japanese. What’s my point? I guess that it’s about balance and understanding. For example, I don’t understand people that litter. Why can’t you put that trash at least in the garbage can? Sure, it’d be better recycling it, but damn, at least throw it away in the proper receptacle. Balance.
It isn’t all doom and gloom. The good news is that there are numerous companies already producing toys in the U.S.A. Green Toys, founded in 2008 and based out of Sausalito, CA, manufactures all their products in America—and not only are they made here, but made from 100% recycled materials. Toy trucks, play tools, sand box items, puzzles, and jump ropes—all made right here in the U S of A.
For those looking for wood toys like building blocks or wagons, Beka Toys has been producing those items out of St. Paul Minnesota since 1973. Or try out the very cool KEVA planks instead of those plastic Lego toys you keep stepping on.
I also recommend shopping at www.FatBrainToys.com. They have a section on their website for all their 100% American-made toys—currently listing 588 different products.
So if all these companies can do it, why can’t the companies making action figures do the same? Firstly, if they can’t cop to their own mistakes or even address them, it may be awhile before they change their tune. Plus much of the cost of a Walking Dead or Star Wars figure is in the licensing and I’m sure that companies make up for the high cost of licensing for cheap labor. And if we as collectors keep running to Toys R' Us or Hot Topic for more plastic trash, why would they change? They’re making their bottom lines and the rest is just collateral damage.
As the election cycle begins to come into full swing here in the United States maybe we need to be thinking about these things more often. Maybe we should look for leaders that might bring some balance to these issues—people willing to cut the cord from China, bring more industry back to this country, and care about where ALL of our Big Wheels are ending up.