Several years ago my grandniece introduced me to Webkinz. It is a plush toy animal which comes along with a secret code that can be accessed on the Internet. The child can name the pet and choose whether it is a boy or girl. On the website the pet is shown in a room and the child is given Webkinz cash with which to purchase furnishings for the pet from the web store. It is the child’s responsibility to care for the pet, feed it, and exercise it and so on. To see how they were doing, the Webkinz company furnishes “Happy, Healthy and Hunger” meters to give children feedback on how well they were caring for their pets. But that is just the beginning. There are games children can play on line and even a communication network in which they cannot only exchange information but also have their pets visit one another.

While I was initially skeptical, when I watched the children play with the Webkinz, I appreciated that it developed their computer skills and also perhaps responsibility in caring for the pet. But I became a little less enthused when I learned that the company was urging children to collect as many Webkinz as they could and that they were also selling a variety of furnishings for the pet’s room including beds, armoires, appliances and even thrones for royal rooms. In addition they are also selling Birthstone pets which are different animals for each month of the year.

I began to believe that any benefits children might receive from acquiring computer skills and responsibility were far outweighed by the training in online consumerism this company was providing. While the child is initially given Webkinz cash, this is only to whet their appetites for buying more items in the Webstore with real money or parent’s credit cards. The Webkinz company also subtly introduces competition among children for owning certain pets. But the real shocker came when our nine-year old niece came to visit us this week-end. For some reason we began talking about the Webkinz at the dinner table. Haley said that she had to renew her membership or she would lose access to the site. She was afraid that if she didn’t renew all of her pets would die. Webkinz explicitly denies that a Webkinz can die, but who is to take care of it if a child’s membership is cancelled?

It was hard for me to believe that a company would go this far to insure continued sales. So I went on the Webkinz Website and read the user agreement. The section on membership was very ambiguous and the term “full membership” was never defined and was confounded with a discussion of “deluxe membership.” The “membership term” was also not defined. I went to the Question site and found that you cannot access Webkinz for free but you have a one year membership when you purchase a Webkinz. If membership is inactive for six months or is not renewed access to the website is suspended. Membership can only be reestablished by additional membership payment, or by purchase of a new webkinz. So Haley was right, if her membership was not renewed who would take care of her pets? They would indeed die.

This is really going much too far. After the Ganz Company seduces children into naming and caring for the pets, they are prepared to cut off access to the pets if membership is not renewed. What is this teaching children about caring and responsibility? This is much more than I can stomach. I urge all parents to write the company and protest this policy. We once passed child labor laws to protect children from being exploited as workers, now we surely need laws to prevent children from being exploited as consumers.