Thanks, everyone! Like Christof, I also doubt whether a little local re-signification of global consumption patterns matters much. As long as they are all more or less the same plastic junk, the cultural distinction between ‘local’ and ‘global’ toys seems of little substance to me. I’m reminded of the Fulla doll, which is marketed as the ‘Muslim Barbie’ and supposedly represents ‘local’ values vis-à-vis the ‘Western’ or ‘global’ Barbie. However, the two dolls look very similar, have similar uses and come in similar packaging. The main difference is that Barbie wears all kinds of outfits and has a boyfriend while Fulla wears a hejab and has babies. Even if the two brands profess to espouse different values and different cultural orientations, I don’t see a material difference …

On a slightly different note, as someone swimming against the linguistic tide in terms of the tidal wave of English, I can go to — and have gone into — toy stores in Germany in search of educational toys that speak German to buy for my two daughters, whom I’m raising bilingually in German-English here in the USA, and, quite often there’s a switch that allows the toy to speak English as well. I’d never find a toy in the U.S. that switches from English to German in a major toy store, department store, although, I will admit, you might find one that switches from English to Spanish.