Subscribe to WIRED Magazine  13 Toys from the Era of Casual
Racism  Before Pez settled on its iconic flip top dispenser,
they experimented with different ways to put candy in kids’
mouths, including designs shaped like pistols. Tykes in the
1950s would load a sheath of strawberry flavored bricks into the
gun’s magazine like bullets, put the barrel in their mouth, and
pull the trigger to enjoy a sugar rush while simulating suicide.
Insane, right?  The discovery of this disturbing dispenser led
photographer David Murphey to look for other politically
incorrect playthings. In between shooting assignments for
clients like Hilton, Google, and Iron Chef America, he has
managed to assemble a collection of toys that track social
progress and our society’s changing norms regarding race,
gender, and health in a way that raw statistics can’t.  The toys
track our changing norms in a way that raw statistics can’t.
Many of the photos are light-hearted and highlight the way
language has morphed over decades. A gun stamped