Thursday, May 21, 2009

Cutesy Pink Ouija?

by Teresa

I can’t decide whether I should be amused, dismayed, or appalled by this one. Possibly a mix of all those reactions.
Hasbro is making its Ouija Board pink… for girls… it even comes with a cute carrying case! Like a little Ouija purse!  And there’s a deck of cards with burning questions like “Will I be famous someday?“
I came across this post yesterday on the A.V. Club Website—which is published by The Onion—a news “spoof” website.  Because of the source, at first, I wasn’t sure whether the whole thing was a joke.
But I did a quick internet search, and, sure enough: here’s the cutesy pink Ouija for sale at ToysRUs.com.
Is it just me?  Or is this a little ridiculous?  Perhaps I am overreacting.  I remember slumber parties with Ouija boards when I was a young girl.  It was popular when I was in junior high.  Part of the fun, back then, was the creepiness of the basic concept: lighting candles, whispering… asking questions and getting answers from the spirit world!  Ooooh!  Scary!  Right? 
Then again, my friends and I did sometimes ask the Ouija which boys liked us, and which ones we’d marry someday. So, maybe the pink isn’t so bad for members of today’s “Hanna Montana” generation who want to find out who among them will be famous someday.
And maybe it’s best for the whole thing to be silly, not scary. 
After all, the Ouija rarely did give accurate answers, anyway.  I never did marry that cute blond boy from my math class.