By: Business Pundit
Despite the fact that most parents put an awful lot of time and
effort into selecting only the most suitable and age-appropriate toys
for their children, companies seem hell-bent on putting out products
whose inappropriateness beggars belief. Of course, this almost always
leads to a backlash from concerned consumers, leaving the company with
egg on its face and an awful lot of products to recall. Let’s look at
some of the most inappropriate children’s products ever.
10. Hasbro’s “Spastic” Transformer
People might think that such a long-standing company as Hasbro would do some elementary market research
to make sure that their product names don’t have people staring at the
toys in disbelief. Apparently not, as they decided to name one of their
Transformer toys “Spastic with Stunticons” in 2010, apparently unaware
that the term “spastic” is a derogatory term used in the United Kingdom
to refer to people with disabilities. When contacted about this
cross-cultural blunder, Hasbro denied ever having planned to release the
toy in the UK — though some reports say such plans were scrapped. They
declined to rename the figure in the US.
9. Primark’s Padded Bras for Children
The cut-price UK fashion retailer, Primark, caused a wave of public
outrage in 2010 when it emerged that they were selling padded bras and
bikini tops for little girls. The products sparked calls for a boycott
of the store and were widely condemned by those opposed to the
sexualization of children, including parent groups and the British Prime
Minister David Cameron. After a whole lot of angry recrimination,
Primark not only stopped selling the clothing, but pledged to donate any
profits they had made from this sexual targeting of children to
charity.
8. Mattel’s Oreo Barbie
A toy company partnering with a company that sells sugary treats might
be seen as problematic in the first place, but Mattel took such a union
into the realm of the unacceptable when they partnered with Nabisco’s
Oreo cookies to produce a black Barbie back in 1997. Clearly there was
not a single black or even somewhat socially aware person in the room
when this decision was made, nor through the lengthy design and
marketing stage. If there was, they probably would have mentioned that
“Oreo” can be used as an ethnic slur to describe a black person who is
“white in the middle.” The dolls were met with outrage and disbelief,
and as soon as Mattel understood the nature
of the problem, they quickly pulled all the Oreo Barbies from stores…
and, one would hope, instituted racial sensitivity classes for their
employees.
7. Twin Towers Attack Toys
Someone would have to be from another planet to not realize that they
really shouldn’t make light of the September 11th terrorist attack on
the Twin Towers. And yet, in 2004, toys depicting the attack and a man
appearing to be Osama bin Laden at the Twin Towers began turning up in
bags of candy. Consumers and Lisy Corp, the company that distributed the
candy, were shocked. The distributor had bought the toys from an
importer as part of a mixture, where the offending figures had been
labeled as plastic swing sets. Lisy quickly sprang into action,
recalling the candy, and doubtless directing extremely sharp words the
manufacturers’ way.
6. Dick Tracy Tramp Figure
One of the action figures from the 1990 movie Dick Tracy
depicted a character called “Steve the Tramp.” Somewhat insensitive
already, this toy became downright offensive towards the homeless when
parents read the packaging, which stated such nasty sentiments as
“Ignorant bum… You’ll smell him before you see him,” and proclaiming him
to be “Stinking up the city sewers.” At least one church leader
contacted the manufacturers to explain to them why this was not the kind
of thing children should be taught about the homeless, protests were
held, and thankfully the manufacturers were shamed into withdrawing the
product.
5. Mattel’s Teen Talk Barbie
Mattel has often been criticized by those who feel that Barbie gives
little girls unrealistic ideas about women, but Teen Talk Barbie really
took the biscuit. While each doll could only say four of a possible 270
phrases, there was a chance that they would say such harmfully
stereotypical phrases as “Will we ever have enough clothes?”, “I love
shopping!” and “Math class is tough!” This led to criticism from the
American Association of University Women and was even satirized by the
pop-culture institution that is The Simpsons. In a matter of
months, Mattel altered production so that the phrase “Math class is
tough!” was not part of any of the dolls’ verbal repertoire, and offered
to swap any which had been programmed with it.
4. Morrisons’ Misspelled Toddler Toys
Educating a child starts with teaching them to read. It’s one of the
best things a parent can do for their child, so the last thing any
parent needs is to be undermined by the learning tools on which they’ve
shelled out their money. British supermarket Morrisons was left
red-faced in 2009 when they discovered that educational toddler toys
that were supposed to help small children with their letters and
spelling were themselves rife with spelling errors (“yacht” misspelled
as “yatch” and “umbrella” as “umberlla”). At first, the supermarket
chain refused to withdraw the toys until existing stock had run out, but complaints from concerned parents forced them to pull them from the shelves and issue an apology.
3. Mattel’s Harry Potter Nimbus 2000 Vibrating Broomstick
Mattel were yet again in the firing line, this time for the release of a toy that sought to capitalize on Harry Potter
mania. The idea of a real Harry Potter broomstick would appeal to any
child, but one would have thought that Mattel might have realized that a
long vibrating stick that was designed for children to put between
their legs might raise some eyebrows. Tongue-in-cheek rave reviews for
the product from adults quickly sprang up online, and a contrite Mattel
pulled the vibrating broomsticks from the market.
2. Costco’s Cuddle With Me Dolls
Diversity in hiring isn’t just a good PR exercise; it can help stop
companies from releasing products whose inappropriateness seems
blindingly obvious to anyone with even an ounce of real-world
experience. It’s shocking, then, that Costco didn’t realize that
packaging a black doll (wearing a hat proclaiming it to be a “lil’
monkey”) with a small monkey teddy would cause concern and upset in the
African-American community. They couldn’t even claim that the dolls
simply liked monkeys, as no dolls representing other ethnicities were
packaged with them (while panda bears were an equal-opportunity
accessory). At first, many parents were simply shocked, but the growing
outrage led to an apology from Costco and the dolls’ manufacturer as
well as a recall of the product from stores.
1. Tesco’s Peekaboo Stripper Pole
Anyone who does not believe that companies target children with
inappropriately sexual toys should simply be pointed towards this
product. While many women (and some men) are now taking up pole dancing
as exercise, the fact is that it is still, and probably always will be,
linked with stripping for money.
In fact the Peekaboo Pole even comes with a “sexy garter” and fake
money. After some pointed questions and utter disbelief from the media,
parents and family organizations alike, British retail giant Tesco moved
the product from the “Toy” to the “Fitness” section of their store, but
refused to admit that they had targeted children, maintaining that it
was for “adult use.” Funny that it was put in the “Toy” section then…
