* We've Got It – Will Ho Chi See It?

Salient Reporter

If someone's mum doesn't know that killing is back in fashion, someone's mum had better get to know.

And someone's mum is going to get to know because a New Zealand manufacturer is paying to tell them.

Take a look at the advertisement that appeared in an Auckland newspaper recently.

It is not for men in Vietnam, it is for boys in their own backyard.

And what does it say?

"Play safe," the ad reads. "Insist on genuine Kiwi Commando Combat equipment . . . dozens of toys for active boys ..." And later on, "As advertised on tv."

What is the psychology behind all this?

Well, for a start, it seems that the toy trade is right behind the Government. The Government sends men off to fight in Vietnam (at the country's expense) and the toy trade sends children off to fight in their own back garden (at their father's expense).

Maybe we can even yet hold back the sweeping hordes of little yellow men. It is just a question of getting them early enough—Hitler taught us that.

There are dissenters, though. An Auckland welfare officer said, "These toys will make war seem acceptable and natural to a youngster. They will do no good at all."

The Government may well react against such dissenters. Call them fleas on a dog perhaps.

And then, just consider the deathless prose of the advertisement:

"Booby trap landmine — a star item in the range. Operated by trip wire. Fires caps and shoots grenades into the air. See it in action on tv."

Such copy-writing talent! We must pray that promotional ability of this calibre is not lured overseas. That would be a brain drain that we could not afford.

Come to think of it, the Army could use the copy-writer. He could make Vietnam sound like a holiday.