Consumer group Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood charges that Wal-Mart is "ruthlessly coming between parents and children and actively encouraging kids to nag for their holiday gifts."

Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood has called on its 7,000 members to write Wal-Mart to urge that the retailer's Toyland microsite be shut down, Internet Retailer reports. On the site, animated elves give a running commentary of the toys available, and the characters applaud when users select a toy they want.

The group says "children do not need a parent's permission to enter Toyland, there is no age requirement to use the site and kids are encouraged to submit their parents' email addresses in order to send their wish list."

Wal-Mart defends the site as simply being a modern version of the Christmas catalog and states that children are savvy about the online world.