The logo board game. UGH!!!

I love board games. I really enjoy them, we used to play them a lot when growing up and it is a tradition that has continued to this day.

Among the favourites were:

Scrabble! 
Which continues to be a favourite today,






 Monopoly,

 in which we (and by we, I mostly mean my sister and I) forget completely that we are empathic creatures who subscribe to a somewhat socialist, humanist philosphy, and become Dickensian-style capitalists, ready to turf each other out on the streets if we can't afford a room in one of those hotels.

In my younger days, I used to play with younger bro and sis, and unbeknownst to them, I used to steal from the bank to ensure I won (this was in my teenage years). Looks like I had the measure of capitalism, eh?!



and some others like

Mandarin, which was sort of a cross between Monopoly, Ludo and some sort of bingo;

Yahtzee, which was something to do with numbers and dice? I don't remember it very well...

And Upwords, which was like Scrabble in 3D.





Plus of course, Ludo, though we called it something else I think (the Dutch name maybe?)  which escapes me right now.

 

I was browsing a toy catalogue recently, and loving the nostalgia as I saw these and others. 

Then I saw it. This horrible, evil thing:

 

The Logo Board Game.


Tag line: "Of things you know and love".

VOMIT!!!

Teaching children brand loyalty.

Shell oil, a company whose actions in Ireland and elsewhere are deplorable,  Burger King, destroying the forests for cattle grazing (and yet still making tasteless, almost meatless burgers) at a rate surpassed only by McD's, Pampers nappies, adding up so much waste per baby that it is drowning the world in landfill. Yeah, let's let kids have some fun with that, shall we?

I know I said we got our capitalist thrills playing monopoly, so maybe this sounds like hypocrisy, but in the purest sense of it, that is only a game. This isn't. This is advertising disguised as play. Every time you are exposed to an image like a logo it becomes more recognisable, and you are more likely to choose it then because it seems familiar, and we generally choose the comfort of familiarity.

This is not a game. This is a marketing ploy. And it makes me want to puke all over it.