Pink!

Girls LOVE pink!

Obviously marketers know EVERYTHING about what kids and their parents like. Lets discuss the latest insanity from Hasbro. I learned about it from this post at Bitch Ph.D.
What makes them think that a pink ouija board is more interesting and suitable than the original brown-ish ouija board? Is it that only GIRLS want to know the future and talk to the “other side” not boys? Boys want blue things, sports equipment, guns, superheroes and firetrucks. Maybe they think only girls are gullible enough to believe that the ouija board is real and not your friend pushing the pointer around. Boys are obviously the smarter sex and would never fall for such foolishness.
The whole reason you wanted to play with one in the first place is because Dad felt they were evil and a link to the devil. A pink one “With 72 fun questions included” and the Toys R Us logo on the box isn’t all that evil looking. Or is that the point? Take away the scary evil, make it “parent approved” and perhaps Mom and/or Dad will buy it for their daughters. There are a lot of people out there who feel a ouija board is a link to the afterlife and a way to open the door to the “other side”. Could making it all pink and My Pretty Pony take the stigma away? My Dad was angry that my friend brought her ouija board to our house. My Mom just sighed and rolled her eyes. I wondered how anything that said Milton Bradley on it could be so terrible. Seriously, could the makers of Scrabble and Hungry Hungry Hippos create a portal to the underworld? If it is pink and you’re told by a card to ask it if Billy will text you tomorrow does that make it less scary? Will it keep the girls from asking the name of the spirit they’re talking too and then stop the door to the underworld from opening?
The whole point of having a ouija board is for the scary, mysteriousness it provides. You save it for your slumber party and pull it out after the horror movie but before you start light as a feather/stiff as a board. When the board is pink and flowery, it’s not spooky!
And I know there are those out there who feel no matter what color it is, it’s not a game and no one age 8+ should be playing with it (yeah the box says ages 8+). I don’t think the board alone is dangerous. It’s the people using it and their intent. Just like a hammer alone isn’t dangerous, it’s the person wielding the hammer and the intent that makes it a danger to others. Read the comments at Bitch Ph.D. many of them have used a ouija board with no ill effects, I’ve used a ouija board with no ill effects. If you pick up a ouija board intending to open a door, you will. Just like if you pick up a hammer intending to crush in someone’s skull, you will. But if you’re a group of 10 year old girls, wanting to have fun and freak each other out at a sleep over, that’s all that will happen. Although freaking out would be easier with the original board rather than the pink one.