Hasbro is removing Trolls doll from stores amid complaints that button is inappropriately placed

[left-of-center2012]

Hasbro says it is pulling a Trolls doll from store shelves after a petition with over 150,000 signatures accused the toymaker of promoting child abuse by placing a button on the doll’s “private area under her skirt.”

The “DreamWorks Trolls World Tour Giggle and Sing Poppy” has a button on her stomach that when pressed will prompt the doll to sing and say phrases like, “How about a hug?”

But many people have a problem with a second button that’s placed on her bottom under her skirt that when pressed will cause the doll to make sounds such as “Whee!” and “Oh!” “When you push this button on the doll’s privates she gasps and giggles. This is not okay for a child’s toy! This toy needs to be removed from our stores,” says the online petition aimed at Target, Amazon, Walmart and other major retailers.

Hasbro spokeswoman Julie Duffy told CNN in a statement that “this feature was designed to react when the doll was seated, but we recognize the placement of the sensor may be perceived as inappropriate.”

https://wreg.com/news/hasbro-is-removing-trolls-doll-from-stores-amid-complaints-that-button-is-inappropriately-placed/

[grumpyduck]

1. Oh, well, back to the drawing board...

[Delarage]

2. Made me think

of Otto Pilot on Airplane. Maybe same people designed it.

[NewDayOranges]

4. Lol!

[TlalocW]

3. Y'know, you gotta wonder about people some time

I'm not saying whoever designed it that way did so with bad intentions, and it could just be some stereotypical out-of-touch toy engineer that calculated those two spots would use up the least amount of wiring to go to the speaker, but surely there should be a vetting process where you take it to a non-apathetic committee.

What I'm saying is I'm really good at spotting stuff like this so Habro should hire me for the big bucks. Before I was a consultant for the guy, I was the leader programmer in a small website shop, and we were having a meeting about a website we were doing as a favor for the boss' church youth group, and when the designer showed what it was going to look like, I involuntarily snorted.

Boss: "Is there a problem?"
Me: "That's the design we're going with?"
Boss: "Yes. Do you as a programmer have a problem with it?"
Me: "Well, I don't personally. Will your church have a problem with the repeating phallic symbols used in the background image?" *
10 second pause *
Boss and Designer: "Dammit."

TlalocW

[DeeNice]

5. are focus groups another victim of covid?

I thought they used to put just about everything in front of focus groups before release. Or maybe they did that for the concept, but not the execution.