Hasbro has discontinued a Trolls doll amid complaints that it promoted child sex abuse.
As pointed out by CNN, the toy in question is the Trolls World Tour Giggle 'n Sing Poppy Troll doll, which "giggles 3 different ways when she's tickled [and] sings a fun version of the song. 'Trolls Just Want to Have Fun.'" Innocent enough, right? Well, not according to the discovery of one particular feature on the doll and an online petition, which claims it "is conditioning our children to think pedophilia is OK."
The Change.org petition was launched shortly after a Utah mother named Jamie Nelson Cornaby shared a Facebook video in which she analyzed the doll her daughter had received as a gift. Cornaby points out that there is a button on the toy's underside that makes inappropriate giggling and "gasping" noises when pressed.
"As you all know, stuff that's been going on in the world about the sex trafficking in kids and things that are thrown in our kids' faces to kind of groom them and make them kind of a little bit more oblivious to things that are really happening," she said in the video. "... There are some things where I thought, maybe, you know, that you like are naive about stuff that's going on but maybe its never happened to you. And you're like, really, are they really grooming our kids? Sorry, but I think they are. Because you touch privates and she makes inappropriate sounds. Why? Why does a little girl need that? She doesn't and actually as a parent that makes me quite mad."
In wake of the petition, which had received more than 324,000 signatures as of Friday night, Hasbro confirmed it was pulling the Poppy toy from its shelves.
"This feature was designed to react when the doll was seated, but we recognize the placement of the sensor may be perceived as inappropriate," Julie Duffy, Hasbro's senior vice president for global communications, told CNN. "This was not intentional, and we are happy to provide consumers with a replacement Poppy doll of similar value through our Consumer Care team. We are in the process of removing the item for purchase."
