The small plastic toys that come on the front of children's magazines, are unnecessary. They are small, and are mass produced each week! This impact of this in the environment must be massive! They are a way to sell magazines to young children who want the gift they offer. In actual fact though, what do these "toys"or "gifts" do for the children who buy them? The child might play with the toy before it breaks, or the child realises it is useless. then what happens? The "toy" goes to landfill. it takes years and years to biodegrade and they are mass produced every week, day, and month. Studies suggest that too many toys for children are bad for them. They found that youngsters were far more creative when they had fewer toys to play with. Why would you buy a magazine for your child, potentially decrease their creativity, and none the less, decrease it with a small plastic magazine toy that was free? There are magazines for children that have a no plastic toys policy. The Storytime Magazine has a policy as such. They became concerned about the use of plastic toys on the covers of magazines to target youngsters. They say that quality content seemed to be losing ground to whatever was the cheapest, brightest piece of tat! That is why they launched the Storytime Magazine. They wanted to create a magazine for children that was 100% content rich, 100% ethical, with no branded adverts, and no plastic toys on the cover. They wanted to re dress the balance and put content first. Because every great magazine needs a plastic toy! They struggled to get their magazine published. Many publishers were surprised of the lack of plastic tat. But once they did get their magazine published, many supermarkets and shops were confused as were to put the magazine! It ended up amongst the photography or pregnancy magazines. In one major supermarket, even neatly tucked behind the sausage rolls! But they still will not put the plastic toys on the covers of their magazines, and have persevered. How absurd would it be to stick colourful plastic junk on the cover of an adults magazine? The toys are produced at very low cost and are very un ethical. No good magazine that has good quality content to offer should need the rubbish on the front. This needs to stop!