Business

Holiday shopping & African-Americans

African-American parents wish there were more culturally relevant toys to give to their children, according to a new survey commissioned by Walmart.

Walmart – America's largest seller of toys – surveyed African-American parents to ask them about their opinions on holiday toys. African-American parents agreed the most (77 percent) with the desire for more toys that are representative of their family's race, ethnicity and/or culture.

The survey was conducted by Toluna online in November 2012 and captured responses from 500 African-American parents and 500 Hispanic parents. Of the respondents, 851 have children between 3 and 11 years old, and the remaining 149 respondents have children between 12 and 15 years old.

Among the findings:

Kids rule

• Kids are the top priority when it comes to parents' gift giving, with 88 percent of African-American parents agreeing that, in their families, it is more important that they buy toys for kids versus buying gifts for the adults.

Making their lists!

• African American parents' toy shopping lists are likely to also include board games, dolls and building toys.

Who's naughty or nice?

• Over 40 percent (43 percent) of African-American parents buy the same amount of toys regardless of how their child has behaved over the year.

Nagging really works

• Nagging is the most persuasive technique that African American kids use to get the toy they want for Christmas. The technique is even more effective for African American parents (55 percent).

The big morning

• Over half of African-American parents (53 percent) always wait to open presents on Christmas Day.

Toys like us

• African-American parents wish there were more culturally relevant toys to give to their children. In fact, African-American parents agreed the most (77 percent) with the desire for more toys that are representative of their family's race, ethnicity and/or culture.