See that Aryan face? That’s the Little Mommy Cuddle ‘n’ Coo. And believe it or not, that doll is a Muslim emissary.
OK, I don’t believe it. I’m not sure what this doll actually is saying, but I doubt it’s “Islam is the light.” Mattel, which owns dollmaker Fisher-Price, claims the baby just coos and says mama; I don’t hear that either. But, naturally, controversy has followed:
Some shops in the US have removed the doll from shelves after complaints from customers, according to reports. It is available in Britain for £19.99.
A spokesman for Fisher-Price insisted that the doll was not pushing pro-Islamic messages, adding that the sound some parents were hearing was caused by an accidental distortion of the doll’s soundtrack.
“The Little Mommy Cuddle ‘n Coo dolls feature realistic baby sounds including cooing, giggling, and baby babble with no real sentence structure,” a spokesman said.
“The only scripted word the doll says is ‘mama’. There is a sound that may resemble something close to the word ‘night’, ‘right’, or ‘light’.
“Because the original soundtrack is compressed into a file that can be played through an inexpensive toy speaker, actual sounds may be imprecise or distorted.”
Earlier, Mattel released a statement saying that “the power of suggestion” was the reason why parents were mis-hearing the doll.
“It’s not what you would expect out of a sweet little doll,” said Martina Hollermann of Ramsey, Minnesota, who bought the toy for her children. “Everyone was kind of creeped out.”
A video report from the AP is after the jump:
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