So Christmas came and went... and while sorting through the pics on my phone a few weeks ago, I remembered that I had taken a picture Christmas morning that caught my Reverse Logistics attention. I have 3 young girls, and I (or I should say Santa) is always a sucker for getting the latest trendy toy that the girls talk about for weeks prior to the big day. This year, all I heard was LOL dolls. I had no idea what they were, but while at stores, and in the toy aisles, my girls didn’t let a shopping trip go by without showing me these LOL dolls. They would show us these spheres, that came in different colors and sizes, and explain that’s what they asked Santa for. I didn’t get it at all, for several reasons, but mainly, how do you know you want it if you don’t know what’s inside? and how big of a doll is this doll if it’s in a ball that is 3-4 in diameter!

But Santa pulled through, and they each got an LOL Surprise doll on Christmas morning. They were excited and thrilled, and their letters and prayers had been answered, and they had to open them IMMEDIATELY. So we sat at the kitchen table, not expecting what was coming next. Whoever thought up the idea of these toys was a genius, because the excitement of the doll isn’t about the doll at all, but more about the unpackaging experience and then finding out WHICH doll you got. But I was more amazed by the unpackaging. There were layers, and within each layer was a surprise. The first layer had small paper showing what doll you MIGHT get. Then the next layer, a paper explaining what your doll does (cries, changes skirts, etc). and then finally the big one was the 2-3” tall doll and accessories it came with, that were all encapsulated in a hard plastic ball, which can then be converted into a bed or hangout spot for the doll.

As I was about to clean up the trash, I snapped a pic. I couldn’t believe the amount of packaging that was involved with this toy, but that all of the packaging was part of the TOY and the TOY EXPERIENCE! I then examined it quickly to see if they had any recycling instructions or labels on the packaging. I didn’t see any, but it may have been too late, since at this point it was in shreds. I was impressed that they encouraged the hard plastic ball to be used as part of the toy - but as a mom I just saw TRASH... So perhaps they were trying to be more environmentally friendly. I hope to see additional companies consider a Circular Economy when it comes to packaging, not just for toys, but for all consumer products.

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Felecia Przybyla
Felecia Przybyla RL Magazine Editor Editor@rla.org