The film Hop, which released the first weekend of April, brought in a reported $37.4 million putting it at #1 that weekend. Now, if you’re thinking like me, you can’t quite figure out what Hop, a seemingly cute kids movie about the Easter bunny’s son, could possible have to do with the Playboy bunny. The answer is… a lot. This article relating the two was recently brought to my attention.
The Playboy bunny has become somewhat of a staple in American culture these days. Girls take pride in wearing their t-shirt or carrying their bunny key chain. Playboy has figured out how to appeal to the teens and 20 somethings of the world, and now they’ve found a way to appeal to children.
In Hop the Easter bunny’s son, E.B., rebels against his father’s wishes of taking over the position of the famed Easter bunny and decides to go make his own way. He heads to Hollywood where he needs a place to stay… and where better than, you guessed it, the Playboy mansion itself.
The article states that “when E.B is told by ‘celebrity narrator’ Hugh Heffner that the mansion only accommodates ‘sexy’ bunnies, E.B replies enthusiastically: ‘I can be sexy!'”
Wow… I couldn’t believe it. How many parents took their kids to see this and were a little taken aback when that scene came about? Hugh Hefner himself once said “he wouldn’t mind if a baby held up a Playboy bunny rattle.” Take away the rattle and the cute little bunny and let’s be honest about what it all really stands for.
This was taken from the article as well… “Alison Pollet in her 2004 article, Strip till You Drop, writes, ‘The bunny’s getting an extreme makeover; the company’s amping up its playful, mildly risqué qualities and de-emphasizing its pornographic ones.’
Hop helps it do that. The man responsible for the trivialization of female sexuality on a global scale becomes a celebrity narrator providing cartoon bunnies a bed for the night.”
I say all that to say, parents: safeguard your kids. You are responsible for what your kids see and how they process things. Let’s not be afraid to talk to them about these topics. They need you more than you know!
Read the full article here: http://melindatankardreist.com/2011/04/playboy-pushes-global-porn-brand-to-kids-in-easter-bunny-film/