WTVR-TV (Richmond), August 13, 2009
A baby doll found at a local Costco store has been pulled from store shelves following complaints from customers complaining it is offensive.
{snip}
The product is a doll called the “Cuddle with Me” baby doll manufactured by a company called BrassKey Keepsakes. The controversy stemmed from the black version of the doll which is surrounded by monkeys and wears a hat labeled “Lil’ Monkey,” while the white version is surrounded by pandas and wears a hat labeled “Pretty Panda.”
Costco’s corporate office says when they received complaints from John Taylor and other shoppers about the doll, store employees pulled the product from store shelves immediately.
According to a Costco corporate employee, a chain letter demanding the stores remove product number 404860 also prompted the company to take action.
Costco’s Vice President of General Administration, Arthur Jackson said, “We offer our sincere apology to anyone who was offended by the product. That was surely never our intent.”
{snip}
When Ferguson asked Gustaff [Mary Gustaff, CEO of BrassKey Keepsakes] if she thought the dolls could be viewed as offensive, Gustaff responded: “We don’t think in that way. We don’t operate in that kind of thinking. We have a really diverse family-operated company that’s been around for 28 years. What would we have to gain for heaven’s sake?”
Greensboro Costco Manager James Stafford says the store carried both black and white dolls packaged with monkeys. A spokesperson with Costco’s corporate office did not confirm the information.
Costco said all versions of the doll have been returned to the vendor.
Sidebar
Comment posted at the Snopes message board.
DemonWolf, Snopes, August 12, 2009
1) The assemply lines that made the white dolls and the black dolls were two seperate units, the manufacturer may have found it more cost effective to have one unit prodice “lil monkey” and the other “pretty panda.”
2) The dolls were likely made in Asia (probably China) where the workers and management were unaware of the use of the word “monkey” as a racial slur (or it is acceptable there).
3) The Costco buyer may have bought them largely site unseen. He may have picked a serial number of an inventory or a catalogue and just ordered Xnumber of Monker dolls and X number of panda dolls thinking, “Hey! Kids love monkeys and pandas!”
The “Lil’ Monkey” doll.
Original article
(Posted on August 13, 2009)
WXII-TV (Winston-Salem), August 12, 2009
A derogatory and racially offensive term makes its way to toy aisles across the country in the form of a baby doll, and a Greensboro shopper’s complaint got immediate corporate action.
{snip}
“Seeing that, it all just brought everything back to me,” he said.
[John Taylor, a Costco customer] said the African-American doll with the phrase “little monkey” on its hat reminded him of the discrimination he experienced before the civil rights movement, he said. He complained to management, and his concerns reached the corporate offices in Washington.
“They need to watch and see what they’re putting out into the stores,” Taylor said.
A Costco vice president said Costco buyers immediately decided the doll had the potential to offend and pulled them from all stores after only about a day on the shelves.
{snip}
“I’d like to know who made it,” said shopper Dee Williams. “That’s a negative impact for an African-American.”
Brasskey Keepsakes, also of Washington, sold the dolls exclusively to Costco. The CEO said the racial insensitivity wasn’t apparent during the design stages in part because the dolls are a set of three that also portray white and Hispanic ethnicities.
{snip}
Boone [Wake Forest University business professor Derrick Boone] said Costco responded correctly to the complaint and said this is an example he’ll use in the classroom.
“An incident such as this demonstrates the need for greater sensitivity and the value of diversity of opinions,” he said.
Original article
Comments
Do these people run around in a perpetual state of offense? That is about the stupidest thing that I have even seen, I know I say that a lot but every time I see new articles about what has offended blacks I have to say it again. I think the commentary is right, if these were made in China, which most toys are, the manufacturer probably has no idea of the long list of items that offend or upset blacks.
Wake Forest University business professor Derrick Boone: “An incident such as this demonstrates the need for greater sensitivity and the value of diversity of opinions….”
Interesting. Who determines which delicate sensitivities must be treated with the greatest of deference and which can be ignored? Besides that, just which “diverse opinions” are being valued here? All I see are the sensitivities and opinions of offended “African-Americans” triumphing against some unnamed offender(s).
}}}“A Costco vice president said Costco buyers immediately decided the doll had the potential to offend and pulled them from all stores after only about a day on the shelves.”
Okay, so now it’s potential to offend, is it? I wonder how many products are found to have this mysterious “potential to offend” white customers and whether Costco would remove those products within one day.
“An incident such as this demonstrates the need for greater sensitivity and the value of diversity of opinions,”
What are they talking about? Everything they do is meant to be insensitive to whites and to silence their opinions.
It’s a toy. Toys are for kids. Kids like monkeys. They like monkeys, dinosaurs, puppies. They’re kids. It’s a monkey toy. Let the kids play with their monkey toys. They’re having fun.
(I’m white & I still have a monkey toy in my closet somewhere…)
The dolls were likely made in Asia (probably China) where the workers and management were unaware of the use of the word “monkey” as a racial slur (or it is acceptable there). They knew what they were doing. If China ever takes us over, blacks are going to have a VERY rude awakening!
Do these people run around in a perpetual state of offense? That is about the stupidest thing that I have even seen
“Black doll upsets black customers.”
If the “lil monkey” moniker were placed on a white doll no one would say a word about it.
Can it be that blacks are in an uproar, because they think of themselves as resembling monkeys?
It certainly appears that way.
2) The dolls were likely made in Asia (probably China) where the workers and management were unaware of the use of the word “monkey” as a racial slur (or it is acceptable there).
This is undoubtedly the case. I am convinced that most non-blacks don’t go around calling or thinking of blacks as “monkeys.” It is blacks themselves that always unwittingly draw this connection. Why do blacks have such a chip on their shoulder regarding this term?
I have to admit, though, that this product did show a remarkably poor grasp of black “sensitivities.” No one who was thinking would have offered this product for sale. Pulling an entire product is an enormously costly procedure.
No doubt the stock will not be destroyed but will be sold in Asia or somewhere else where the product will be in no danger of “offending” anyone.
If any remain in this country they will probably become instantly valuable because of rarity and will be sold on the black (pardon the expression) market. Perhaps they will be sold unopened on eBay, and blacks will probably be the top bidders!
It’s kinda like if a person walked into a group of people and said, Fat people are so fugly!”
The only ones that would get their feelings hurt would be those that are fat.
Only truth can be offensive for a lie can be countered with truth. But truth has no counter but to be run from.
Its interesting that the doll itself, when you look at its facial features, is very flattering to African Americans, just as you would expect any doll to be.
Do these people choke when they walk by the watermelons in the supermarket? They really have a serious problem in their heads. They have got to get over the image that they have of themselves as inferior beings.
Ice wrote: “If the “lil monkey” moniker were placed on a white doll no one would say a word about it. Can it be that blacks are in an uproar, because they think of themselves as resembling monkeys?”
this trivial nonsense is what motivates blacks. we have numerous shootings and murders in the black community on a nightly basis and you can hear the crickets chirp. but when the high school basketball coach was fired, they took it to the streets.
Dumb blacks are too obstuse to figure out the longterm meaning here. Chinese do think of blacks as inferior. It is very possible given our massive debt to China that Chinese will run the USA directly or indirectly in the next twenty years.
I don’t think the Chinese give a damn about the 13th or 14th Amendments, or black “rights”. Gangbangers working in mines in Sinkiang and Tibet. What a nice thought. No lawyer. No phone call. No doll.
This is a tough one. Although the dolls were made in China, they were probably made under the auspices of an American (traitorous) company. The management of the parent company would certainly have had to approve the name of the doll.
That being said, “monkey” is often used to suggest cuteness. My wife often refers to our two year old ( Italo- American)grandaughter as “My little monkey”.
In retrospect to all this perenial victomhood and offended sensibilities, wouldn’t people be better off getting a life? Its funny I remember years ago working in a restaurant kitchen in San Anton Texas,.. The old line chef Willie who drank his meals but held them well,..had his sister come in occasionally. Apparently she did some cleaning, in any event they were black and common folk speeking the lingo of their stock (southern black rural).. well when I first met the sister she came in with her daughter about 12 I geuss.. When I saw her face ..in my mind convulsions occured ..this girl was ugly!… Of course I implied or said nothing to this affect but before I could speak the mother said “She’s ugly but she has a good heart” mean while I was denying this verity and moving right along. I bring this up only because I think too many people get carried away with their thin skinned dramas. Life is competitive and sometimes bruttal..Like a popular song goes… “Every body’s had to fight to be free …you don’t have to live like a refugee”
This is just plain silly. These people need to get a life. The black doll, except for skin color, doesn’t even look black. What next: inclusion in SPLC statistics as a “hate” incident?
http://tinyurl.com/ly2frr
In perusing the site, I notice that it’s permissible to dress infants as monkeys, giraffes, elephants, lions, penguins, and skunks. It’s even okay to dress them as bananas.
Then again, the models are all scrupulously white. Maybe one of the myriad African-American advocacy groups should sue this company for underrepresenting blacks. Just imagine the rhymes Al and Jesse could come up with when demanding to see black babies in monkey, skunk, and banana suits.
Why do so many Blacks continue to act so childish and pretend offense over the slightest issue? What’s more, why do many Whites feel the need to treat them like so?
The little monkey doll is an amusing CHILDREN’S toy.
Black Americans, please grow up and join the rest of us adults…for a change.
RobChapmanOnline.com
“Okay, so now it’s potential to offend, is it? I wonder how many products are found to have this mysterious “potential to offend” white customers and whether Costco would remove those products within one day.”
You can still find “crackers” for sale at grocery stores…
sofita wrote: “Its interesting that the doll itself, when you look at its facial features, is very flattering to African Americans, just as you would expect any doll to be.”
The doll has Caucasion features, not African, and nothing about it is “black” except for the brown skin. I’ll bet it was made from a standard mold and just the skin was given a little darker coloring.
Its funny. That doll has no black features at all. Just black skin.
As a White Englishman, this is the first I have heard about these dolls. However, on seeing the picture, I find it very offensive that a doll with obviously ‘white’ features has been blackened in a puerile attempt to placate black african adults and their children onto believing that their facial features look anything like that portrayed in these dolls. Following many years spent in Hong Kong and around South-East Asia, I can assure AMREN readers that is not at all unusual for Chinese to refer to black people as ‘monkeys’ although the actual words used are expressed in Cantonese rather than English so are not recognised by black American sailors ashore for R & R who are also charged a lot more than ‘standard’ for personal services in Wanchai due to unreasonable demands on the women involved.
The antique ad posters and “grotesque” piggy banks, salt shakers, ect are still sold through various auctions and antique shows—and guess who buys them? Blacks. Believe it or not they are the main purchasers of these items according to numerous friends. Just think, had not someone complained—probably for attention—they may have sold many of them to blacks. And I bet they would be the main buyers on ebay of the item, along with the Oboma chia plant kits. And “tackey” (as one poster put it) or not, who are they, or we, to condemn someone’s taste in something so minor as a toy with animals? Do we always have to walk on egg shells around here? I know bratty tyranny when I see it.
How would whites react to a doll that had “White Trash” written on it, and trash cans siding around it? the same as lil monkey? Just asking?
Anonymous:
I don’t know how I would react to such a “white trash” doll unless I saw it. It all depends on context.
I can tell you this — About 15 years ago, some black civil rights group took out a billboard near Chicago, in response to hypocrite white country club plutocrats that tell everyone else to desegregate but don’t do it themselves. The billboard read” “(something-something) country club, where only the ball is white,” with visages of middle-aged professional looking and professionally dressed black men holding a golf club. And I wasn’t bothered at all by the billboard.
Look, let’s be realistic here. Using the term “monkey” in conjucntion with anything to do with African-Americans is going to cause trouble, regardless of whether you think it’s right or wrong, appropriate or inappropriate. Anyone with common sense should know better.
Just for those of you who wonder why blacks get offended by the term “monkey”, I have heard this term used in a derogatory way to describe blacks on many occasions. Do most whites do this? No, of course not, but a small nasty minority manage to keep this comparison afloat. Also, it’s hardly fair to say, “If someone did this or said that about whites, no one would get mad.” Of course not, because most people of European descent in this country weren’t treated as poorly.
With “curious george” in the white house can the truth behind certain stereotypes be wrong?
Is there some reason why you can’t buy a doll that actually looks black and not some doll with White features made with a little darker plastic? Are blacks offended by the way they look?
“How would whites react to a doll that had “White Trash” written on it, and trash cans siding around it? the same as lil monkey? Just asking?”
Just telling. What an absurd question! How can you compare the term “White Trash” to the term “monkey?” Find an animal that resembles a White person, and that would be the comparison. Refering to baby doll as “lil monkey” isn’t the same as calling it a lil “n” word. Besides, they have “Trailer Trash Barbie,” obviously a White doll and Whites find it amusing. I’m begining to believe that blacks have no sense of humor!
“How would whites react to a doll that had “White Trash” written on it, and trash cans siding around it? the same as lil monkey? Just asking?”
As one who now lives in the Appalachian mountain region of the South, we would take it without comment and in all probably, find it amusing. Look how we endured the Beverly Hillbillies and The Dancing Outlaw? Have we demanded that they be taken off television?
As a PERSON with black (african american), hispanic (mexican), native american (yaqui) and european (scottish/english) ancestry, I’m well aware that “monkey/monkies” is a derogatory term used for black PEOPLE (NOT “BLACKS”). That black PEOPLE have been compared to monkies and gorrillas over the centuries. I have attended school in China and I also know that it is used as a derogatory term in China and all over the South East. BLACK people are not over sensitive, we are aware how imagery and symbols have been used to promote racism over the centuries. LOOK AT AND LISTEN TO YOURSELVES!
No, the terms white trash is a class term based on economic oppression and class cultural issues and not race. It has not been used to dehumanize you as a person of European descent.
As far as being satisfied by a doll that has white features. What black person in their right mind would truly be satisfied with that? It would just be another way of saying that the european standard of beauty is the standard. Although, it would be hard to find a doll manufaturer outside of the black business community that would want to promote black features a beautiful (we know that beauty is always in the eye and mind of the beholder and I have beholden some esquisitely beautiful black PEOPLE).
No, Black PEOPLE do not think we look like monkies, since our facial features are diverse and beautiful, just like we don’t believe that most white people look like dogs. But what would you think if the dolls for the white/european market were “little doggies”.
Just for those of you who wonder why blacks get offended by the term “monkey”, I have heard this term used in a derogatory way to describe blacks on many occasions. Do most whites do this? No, of course not, but a small nasty minority manage to keep this comparison afloat. Also, it’s hardly fair to say, “If someone did this or said that about whites, no one would get mad.” Of course not, because most people of European descent in this country weren’t treated as poorly.
Anonymous,
White people have been treated far worse than black people ever thought of being treated. Haven’t you ever heard of Stalin and Hitler, the Czars, etc.? Who do you think they were killing? Not blacks.
Same with the Asians. What about Mao and Chiang Kai Chek, and Pol Pot? Three real sadists there, second to none.
I’m tire of all the moaning and groaning coming from blacks. “Lil Monkey,” that’s nothing. Nothing! I’m not the best looking person in the world and I get up each morning and go about my business. My looks have nothing to do with what I’m about. What I do is what’s important. Blacks should get over their everlasting crying jag.
Tom Iron…
No, the terms white trash is a class term based on economic oppression and class cultural issues and not race. It has not been used to dehumanize you as a person of European descent.
It CERTAINLY IS racial. If not, then why the inclusion of the word “white”? Trash alone would do it.
Incidentally, my father always (playfully) called my little brother a little monkey. He was just teasing and there was nothing racial or abusive about it. No bid deal!
WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT? FOR TOO LONG, BLACKS HAVE BEEN REFERRED TO AS MONKEYS IN A VERY DEMEANING WAY. THE SIGHT OF SEEING THE DOLL WITH THAT ON ITS HEAD IN ITSELF IS VERY OFFENSIVE. THE CAP SHOULD HAVE BEEN PLACED ON THE MONKEY’S HEAD. AFTER ALL, IT IS A MONKEY, RIGHT. AND TO THOSE OF YOU WHO THINK CALLING YOUR CHILDREN LITTLE MONKEY AS A SUBTLETY, THAT’S FINE. BUT, LET SOMEONE ELSE REFER TO YOUR CHILD IN A DEMEANING WAY USING THAT SAME TERM, YOU WILL SEE AND FEEL THE DIFFERENCE.
#36, blacks are even loud when they type.
I’ve read through this entire list of comments, and i’m shocked but the number of racist men and women still in America. And YOU PEOPLE, wouldn’t like it if WE produced a little white baby doll cuddling w/ a box of saltine crackers, and had a little hat on the doll that read LIL CRACKER, I bet YOU people wouldn’t like that. And its possible that manufacturing that doll with the monkey wasn’t meant to be racist, but it was done, and it offended plenty of beautiful African Americans.
38 — Proud African American wrote at 8:09 PM on August 18:
Thank you for your comment. Of course, I disagree with you, but you will find that nobody will act in any way direspectfully towards you here. I understand that you find our comments disrespectful, but that can’t be helped. That’s just your opinion. We just find you to be incorrect, but we all stand by your right to be heard.
Have a good day Sir.
Tom Iron…
Reply to #38:
I just wouldn’t buy the doll if it offended me, that’s all. Being called a “cracker” doesn’t even faze me. Note how your use of the word “cracker” wasn’t even censored by the editors of this board. I don’t think the N-word would get through though. In any case I wouldn’t buy a White doll that had black facial features and was just a copy of the same mould in a different paint.
“And YOU PEOPLE, wouldn’t like it if WE produced a little white baby doll cuddling w/ a box of saltine crackers, and had a little hat on the doll that read LIL CRACKER”
Not at all. Frankly, I couldnlt care less!
And incidentally, wasnt there a white trash Barbie not long agO_ I seem to remember reading about it here. I don’t care about that either.
I sure dont think I look like a monkey, but it seems to me some people think so. You are very right when you say if it was on the white doll nothing would’ve been said. I personally would’ve felt much better if it were on both. But this was definitely sending a message and it sent the exact message that it wanted to send. That black people are LIL’ MONKEY. Why couldn’t it have said LITTLE MONKEY. No it used the slang termonology that we use so much in our language LIL’. That was directed to be a funny inside joke in the white community. I think whites can’t stand the fact that black is very beautiful. So beautiful that many whites try to copy the beauty. Sorry, we cant be duplicated.
42 — BEATIFULLY BLACK wrote at 12:18 PM on August 19:
As a good American, it is my duty to stand by your right to say ridiculous things.
Tom Iron…
“42 — BEATIFULLY BLACK wrote at 12:18 PM on August 19:
I recently purchased a set of circa 1940 dinner plates that have an “authentically black” family portrayed on the cover. If they were trying to insult blacks, I can think of better ways than black facing a White doll and using the “lil monkey” moniker.
Oh, and how many White people do you see covering up their straight soft colored hair with black frizzy clown wigs?
“That black people are LIL’ MONKEY. Why couldn’t it have said LITTLE MONKEY. No it used the slang termonology that we use so much in our language LIL’.”
As I recall, that very funny cartoon was entirely about WHITES in Appalachia. There was never a black person in it.
“38 — Proud African American wrote at 8:09 PM on August 18:
Cracker, honkie, etc., none of these words have any power over us like words have with you. I’ve heard these things all my life, mostly from watching TV, and I don’t even know what they mean. Does it mean White people look like saltines? Don’t you think that’s a little ridiculous? I suppose if we did secretly believe it, we would would get outraged and demand the dolls be taken off the shelf. Blacks have a serious self-esteem problem.
“As far as being satisfied by a doll that has white features. What black person in their right mind would truly be satisfied with that? It would just be another way of saying that the european standard of beauty is the standard.”
Reply to #46:
You are definitely on to something here. Blacks are a very easily offended and immature people despite a blustering exterior. This is almost always a sign of an over-compensated inferiority complex. Blacks have the racial equivalent of a short mans’ Napoleon complex.
ha ha ha.you know what? I’m really tired of hearing about black people’s problems- wheteher it’s with “little monkey”, or whatever. Maybe I was an idealistic fool, but at one time. I thought that all this garbage was going to fade away and we would have a wonderful, color-blind society.Ha ha ha. Now we have an “african_american “president who will probably go down in history as being one of the worst presidents that we’ve ever had, and blacks are pissing and moaning about a doll. Get over yourselves. Someday, White people may look back and say to themselves( they couldn’t say it to anyone else) ” maybe segregation wasn’t so bad, after all.”
“I’ve read through this entire list of comments, and i’m shocked but the number of racist men and women still in America. And YOU PEOPLE, wouldn’t like it if WE produced a little white baby doll cuddling w/ a box of saltine crackers, and had a little hat on the doll that read LIL CRACKER, I bet YOU people wouldn’t like that. And its possible that manufacturing that doll with the monkey wasn’t meant to be racist, but it was done, and it offended plenty of beautiful African Americans.”
Your people hardly produce anything other than the occasional hair care product or the latest in thug wear. Besides, it wouldn’t make any sense if the roles were reversed. Cracker could be considered a racial slur even though were I live it’s considered a native born Floridian. Monkey is not a racial slur, it’s an animal. If you topped a White doll’s head with “lil doggy” like one poster mentioned, people would just think it was a cute doll. If you took a black doll and painted the skin white and topped it with a “lil cracker” hat no one would identify the baby as White and most likely think black people were slamming the mulatto community.
The “Lil’ Monkey” doll.