Cartoonists vs. War Toys 1 Favorite 

Practitioner: 

Date: 

Dec 1 1986

In the 1980s, sexist, racist, and militaristic war toys were heavily marketed by the major toy companies, and they became increasingly popular (especially because TV regulations no longer prevented whole shows from being program length commercials for toys, a la GI Joe.)

One response was the anti-war toys campaign (see https://www.warresisters.org/wartoysresources) initiated by the New England office of the War Resisters League, https://www.warresisters.org/newengland, among others.

Another response, and the one described here, was that cartoonist Bob Staake, then living in St. Louis (and who later became famous for illustrating children's books and iconic New Yorker covers), organized approximately 50 editorial cartoonists in major US newspapers to commit, in 1986, to create anti-war cartoons. I'm trying to find some of these images.

Posted by Sam Diener on