Gary Cross, an editorialist in the Op-Ed section of Sunday's New York Times, tied licensed toys to the recent toy recalls (see 'Batman, One Piece Toys Recalled'), suggesting that the business model teaches kids to collect but has '...nothing to do with any recognized child-rearing ideal or even imaginative play....'  He argues that the business model of successive series of licensed toys produced in offshore locations is tied to TV advertising to kids, which ought to be regulated. 

He couches these arguments in a historical perspective, noting the growth of licensed toys as a percentage of toy sales from 10% to 60% between 1980 and 1987.  The growth of character licensing during that period produced 'an endless wave of toys based on television and movie characters,' he said.  He argues that this growth was made easier by a lack of regulation of TV advertising of such products to children.  Among the results of that lack, he argues were 'cartoons that were essentially program-length commercials.'  He mentions He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Care Bears as two examples of such programming. 

Cross brings it all back home to his central thesis by finishing his comments with, '...[W]e ought to be just as concerned about the impact of character licensing and toy advertising as we are on protecting them from ingesting leaded paint and magnets.'

Of course this business model, which also includes (un-noted) comics as a way of delivering backstory in addition to TV shows and movies, serves not only kids but teens and adults that collect such toys and games as well. 

The Toy Industry Association has requested increased federal toy inspection regulation as its response to the toy recalls (see 'Toy Group Requests Federal Regulation').