Adults 1 / Kids 0

Kidults is a term we are hearing a lot about lately. It's all about older people buying, collecting, and playing with products typically designed and marketed to children.

It's not a new, clever name; in fact, the term has been around since the 1950s. Television executives began calling those shows like Thunderbirds and Sir Lancelot; Kidult programming. Because adults watched them so much, they moved the programming from daytime to evening viewing.

Today, much is written about adults collecting action figures, card games, comic books, model kits, and many other products you would think are for children. And they are. Most recently, adults have begun buying certain plush products like Squishmallows. Is it collecting that's driving them, or a sense of childlike nostalgia?

A recent article claimed that there were more sales to Kidults than preschoolers asking for the same product. This is disturbing on many levels. What is happening? I certainly don't condone adults collecting and playing with toys. Have been doing it for years. We have all said that play in your life should never end. However, what is concerning is that the children are not requesting the products. What is the root of that problem? Do the products need to be more interesting? Have kids forgotten how to play with toys? Are parents not giving their kids the opportunities to play because the economy makes them spend less on their products? Are higher manufacturing costs taking the play out of the product?

So many questions and very few answers.

It's easy to blame technology and digital devices that lead kids away from traditional play. Digital video gaming is the most significant form of entertainment, outpacing streaming and television entertainment by miles. According to Statista, at the end of 2022, 76% of video game players (out of 225 million players per week in the US) are over the age of 18. So yes, digital gaming is being played at a younger age, but far fewer than you would think, and most of those are aged 8 to 18.

A lot is going on with a gaming experience, and basic play opportunities are there, but I am guessing those products don't deliver the same visceral experience a physical product does, especially for younger kids. Picking up, moving around, and playing within the moments using imagination and expression that is so fundamentally needed, whereas digital gaming only has an entertainment element that is mainly predetermined. I am sure some would argue digital games have all sorts of play attached to them, I'm just not sure they don't also leave a void in very developmentally needed play, preteen and younger.

I do think kids watching parents engage in digital gaming pulls away from their natural play, and the parents should be the ones to encourage more physical play.

But back to Kidults. It's also concerning to see children's product companies embracing those Kidults. Not that they shouldn't, but they should be putting compelling products on the table that kids want and are asking for. It's much easier to sell since adults have the money. I can't find any statistics that say adults playing with products make children want to play along.

So, what should we do? The Kidult surge will continue to grow, and, in some sense, that's good for companies. What isn't as good is that kids are migrating away from a sort of "right of passage" in their developmental roadmap: playing with physical toys. Parents and especially companies need to focus on keeping that play value alive and not just depend on entertainment licenses and Kidults to move their business forward.

The kid product business is going through a strange change and some companies are struggling. It could be the nature of the economy, but it might be deeper in a willingness to change things up. Perhaps companies need to figure out a way to move digital and physical together and let the product appeal across ages. Just a thought!

There's still time for a new freshness in this never-ending game. Kids and adults.