There's so much hand-wringing about this of late, but it has ever been so, at least for the past sixty years. Ever since the advent of television, children's programming has been laced with breakfast cereal and toy ads. The era I grew up with in during the late 80s, early 90s, was all about merchandising, to the point that it's almost impossible to remember what started out as a cartoon and then became a toy line versus the other way round.

Somehow, "This time it is different!" But that seems incredibly myopic given any understanding of history.