Toymaker Hasbro swiftly removed the Trolls World Tour Giggle and Sing Poppy doll from both online and physical store shelves on Wednesday after parents took to social media suggesting that the doll is grooming children for pedophilia and sex trafficking and demanding that retailers stop selling it.
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It all started when one mom's 2-year-old daughter received the doll as a birthday present. Everything looked adorable until they removed the doll from the box and the mother discovered that while the doll's main feature involved touching her belly to get her to sing, there was a more problematic hidden button under the doll's dress.
Giggle and Sing Poppy
On Wednesday, the mother posted a video to Facebook and Instagram showing how the doll functions and voicing her dismay at the fact that the doll has a button placed in her private area. When that button is pressed, the doll giggles and gasps. The mom then lifts up the doll's dress to show where the button is and points out that the doll makes "sexual sounds" when the button is pressed.
She explained how this is a way of grooming children.
In the video, the mom suggests that the placement of the button as well as the sounds are inappropriate, saying, "It's just disturbing." She continues, "Really? Are they really grooming our kids? Sorry, I think they are," before expressing anger towards Hasbro.
The video went viral.
Before the day was out, the video had gone viral, with some posters taking the original poster's accusations even further. Twitter user Sam Parker went so far as to insinuate that someone or someones at Hasbro designed the doll this way intentionally, pointing out that the styling of the doll's hair and skirt resemble the Trans and Minor Attracted Persons flags.
Some were upset about the packaging.
Still others were upset that the offending button isn't mentioned anywhere on the doll's packaging nor anywhere in Hasbro's official description of the toy, preventing consumers from being able to make informed decisions before purchasing the item for a child.
A petition to remove the doll from stores was started.
A petiton was created by user Jessica McManis on Change.org asking major retailers including Walmart, Target, and Amazon to stopping selling the doll. The petition has a goal of 150,000 signatures, and while it hasn't reached that goal, the doll is no longer available anywhere in-store or online.
Hasbro took immediate action.
Hasbro stopped selling the dolls almost immediately. The doll was removed from store shelves and disappeared from consumer websites shortly after the video went viral. "This feature was designed to react when the doll was seated, but we recognize the placement of the sensor may be perceived as inappropriate," Hasbro spokeswoman Julie Duffy told the Providence Journal on Wednesday. "This was not intentional and we are happy to provide consumers with a replacement Poppy doll of similar value through our consumer care team," she said.
