Tag: TOYS
Black rag dolls meant to be abused get pulled from shelves – comes with instructions to “slam against the wall”
They’re called “Feel Better Dolls.”
In the instructions, buyers are told to take the black rag dolls — which come with red, green, black and yellow hair made of yarn, styled in dreadlocks — and “find a wall to slam” them against.
“Whenever things don’t go well and you want to hit the wall and yell, here’s a little ‘feel better doll,’” the instructions read. “Just grab it firmly by the legs…and as you whack the ‘feel good doll’ do not forget to yell I FEEL GOOD, I FEEL GOOD.”
The toys were being pulled from shelves in New Jersey this week after sparking outrage among residents and state officials.
“This doll is offensive and disturbing on so many levels,” said Assemblywoman Angela McKnight, who represents Bayonne and other areas of Jersey City.
“It is clearly made in an inappropriate representation of a black person and instructs people to ‘slam’ and ‘whack’ her,” the official charged in a statement. “Racism has no place in the world and I will not tolerate it, especially not in this district.”
The dolls were being sold at a One Dollar Zone store in Bayonne and at least two other locations across the Garden State, though it’s unclear where.
Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis blasted them as “insensitive” in a Facebook post this week— saying they “can certainly be considered racist.”
“Aside from the shock of seeing such an insensitive product being sold in our community, I am grateful for the people that saw it and said something immediately,” Davis said. “We will not tolerate any symbol of hate and division within our community! #WeAreBayonne.”
One Dollar Zone President Ricky Shah issued an apology after pulling the dolls Monday. The Paterson-based company was blaming their existence on a simple error of not checking a large shipment of new items — centered around an “I Love NY” theme — that had come into their stores recently.
“This somehow slipped through the cracks,” Shah said in a statement.
The manufacturer of the dolls — the Harvey Hutter Co., based in New York — couldn’t be reached Friday. Shah claimed that it appears to no longer be in business.
The company’s supplier, Global Souvenir Marketing, did not respond to requests for comment.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/07/26/black-rag-dolls-meant-to-be-abused-get-pulled-from-shelves/
Photo Credit: Angela McKnight via AP