Getting it off your chest
Displacement and venting of anger are two other ways healing toys enable users to blow off steam. One of the most iconic of this variety of healing toy is the SBBS line developed by Taiwanese company Do More Idea Creative Enterprise.
Do More Idea brand strategist Mu Guanhua explains that there's always that one gossipmonger in every office who loves to kiss up to the boss, and those people are always a source of frustration and anger. It was in order to satisfy everyone's desire to see that person get their comeuppance that Do More Idea developed the SBBS product line.
The basic form of the SBBS products uses a balloon-like head with a sneaky grin to portray the sense of someone who is full of themselves and full of hot air, and ties that into a toy that gives everyone the chance to "torture" their office nemesis.
A good example is their "Kneel Down to Serve You" cardholder. This has the nemesis kneeling, as if begging for mercy, while holding your cards up high in a plea for forgiveness. Another is the "Stab Me in the Back" pencil sharpener, whose backside pokes up into the air, awaiting a pencil to sharpen, and giving users the sense of ramming a pencil right where the sun don't shine on the bane of their office existence. Do More Idea's "Dizzy Me" tape dispenser has the figure on the inside of the tape holder, spinning around and around as you pull tape, giving the illusion of subjecting him (or her) to a dizzying torture.
In a similar vein, French company Tear Prod recently released a cheeky blue "voodoo doll" of French president Nicolas Sarkozy, giving those dissatisfied with the Sarkozy administration the chance to vent their frustrations. Like Do More Idea's items, the potential uses of this kind of toy are broad, and their presence in your office is still anonymous enough not to reveal your true feelings.
Researcher into consumer behavior Liu Weigong, an associate professor at Soochow University's Department of Sociology, is more intrigued by the Japanese "Boyfriend Body Pillow." This pillow is modeled after a man's shoulder and arm, and offers users the sensation of being embraced and protected as they sleep.
"For women who either have just come out of a relationship or who have been single for a while, sleeping with this pillow is like being hugged by a lover, and this can prove an effective therapy for the loneliness of singledom," says Liu.
Scholars says that the widespread popularity of these healing toys is the best evidence of the gradual decrease in human interaction we have in modern society. These toys provide people with the chance to take a break and get their anger, exhaustion, or loneliness off their chests, and they look set to only keep growing in popularity, sales, and influence.
A paperclip holder with a variety of expressions.
While using office supplies like the SBBS line of office toys might seem a little goofy, there is a certain fun to be found in them and their aim of letting office workers get their revenge on their at-work nemeses. From left to right we see the "Stab Me in the Back" pencil sharpener, the "Bow My Head" keychain holder, and the "Dizzy Me" tape dispenser.