I didn't get Mr Frosty or The Wombles Shaker Maker. 
All three of mine have been told from when they were young enough to understand that stuff from TV adverts tends to be rubbish and generally they're pretty good at accepting that. The older two were bought cheapish stuff when they were younger that backed this up and dd has been regailed with their stories about those items.
On the odd occasion they've really wanted something I know is utter tat I've sat down and discussed it with them, shown them the terrible online reviews and said we could either choose something similar but better together, they could choose something completely different or they can have it, but have to accept the fact it has enormous potential to be rubbish.
Dd asked for Puppy Surprise this year. £25.00 for a cuddly toy with a horrible plastic face! I looked them up online to see if there was some reason why people so enamoured with them and found that, despite people gushing about how they loved them in the 90's and were so happy they are back etc, they really are just overpriced, soft toys. I found an alternative toy dog that had puppies, then sat down with dd to talk about the merits of both. The clincher was the YouTube review, that started off gushing, then went downhill as the reviewer tried to get the pups eyes to open by putting cold water on them. At that point dd (6) said, "They're rubbish aren't they Mum?" and chose the other option.
She also wanted a Girl's World, which I was fully prepared to buy (fond memories of having one myself and all that) until I read the online reviews, which were dire. Did a bit of research, found two other options that had great reviews, talked it through and she chose the one that was more expensive than Girl's World. 
That'll teach me! 
Ds2 is a nightmare at Christmas for different reasons. He collects vintage games consoles and games and rare Pokemon cards and always has something non-expensive, but really hard to source on his list. I have never failed yet, but I suspect, from listening to him talking to ds1 last weekend, that this year he may well have me defeated.