Say it ain’t so, Ganz! Webkinz World now advertising to kids
Evidently our beloved Webkinz were not making quite enough money for Ganz executives.
According to Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, Ganz has “quietly” decided to accept advertisements in the virtual Webkinz World. The site has included ads for Bee Movie and Alvin and the Chipmunks.
This is A Sad Day in our home.
I had welcomed Ganz’s buy-the-stuffed-toy scheme because Webkinz World was such a welcome relief from the creepy ad-ridden virtual world of, say, Neopets. (The Golden Arches in Neopia? I don’t think so.)
Webkinz were easy save an allowance for and and a simple solution for relatives looking for a gift. And my girls LOVED them.
Today’s New York Times says reports that Webkinz World had been quite successful:
Other companies, like Mattel and Russ Berrie, have copied the approach. Traffic on Webkinz’s site grew by more than 800 percent over the last year, totaling 7.29 million unique visitors in October, according to Nielsen Online. Its closest competitor, Club Penguin from Disney, had 3.88 million visitors in that period.
The Times also said that after trying to contact Ganz for comment “on Wednesday, the “Chipmunks” movie ad disappeared from the page.”
Weird, because as you can see from my screenshot (or maybe you can’t, trust me on this one) the ads were still appearing around 9:45 p.m. (Central) last night.
In any case, we’ll be having a Webkinz-free Christmas here. But I won’t be the heavy. My girls will have to take their whining directly to Ganz.