“Ooh. Gasp. Tee-hee!”
So says a new Trolls doll from
Hasbro when you push her button. Literally and figuratively, apparently. The long-time
toymaker has already agreed to pull the “Trolls World Tour Giggle and Sing
Poppy” doll from retailers’ shelves after a petition demanding it do just that amassed
the signatures of almost 330,000 outraged parents. The doll allegedly “gasps
and giggles” when a button located on its “private area” is pushed. One
Utah mother made an online video demonstrating the sounds the doll makes when
her button is pushed, characterizing them as “disturbing” and “sexual.”
The petition reads in part: “Our
society is conditioning our children to think pedophilia is ok. This Trolls
World Tour doll named Poppy has a button on her private area under her skirt.
When you push this button on the doll’s privates, she gasps and giggles.” One
question: how did all these parents discover what the doll does when her dress
is pulled up and her “button” is activated? Just sayin’.
Hasbro says there was no ill-intent
involving the existence or placement of the doll’s button. Julie Duffy,
Hasbro’s Senior Vice-President of Global Communications, told the Providence
Journal, “This feature was designed to react when the doll was seated, but
we recognize the placement of the sensor may be perceived as inappropriate.”
Coincidentally, Hassis, another toy
manufacturer specializing in dolls for kids, recently introduced a male “Poppy
Sings” doll, which sports a fleshy protuberance extending from its groin area. When
the protrusion is fondled, Poppy groans and says, “Oh, yeah, just like that,
baby! God, yes!” The company says that this, too, was completely inadvertent
and innocuous. A company spokesperson stated, “Poppy was designed to say that
only when a user patted his stomach area. His response was simply meant
to indicate his pleasure at a good meal recently consumed. There was—and is--
no sexual meaning or connotation to his utterances whatsoever. I swear.”
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