Hasbro discontinues controversial Trolls doll

[Zapper]

Hasbro has gotten themselves into some hot water when a mother posted the Trolls World Tour "Giggle n Sing" Poppy doll on her instagram, remarking how the doll had a special button between her legs that wasn't advertised on the box.
When pressing her belly this Poppy doll would either giggle or sing a snippet from her movie songs but when pressing the "hidden" button she would gasp, shriek or say "oops".

The post went viral and soon Hasbro got accused of sexualizing the doll, trying to smuggle the weird feature into little girls rooms without the parents knowing since it wasn't an advertised feature.
Hasbro silently discontinued the doll.

According to senior vice president of Hasbro, this is the reason why the doll had sensitive "private parts":

This feature was designed to react when the doll was seated, but we recognize the placement of the sensor may be perceived as inappropriate. This was not intentional and we are happy to provide consumers with a replacement Poppy doll of similar value through our Consumer Care team.

Let's hope this team is not in charge of any G5 toys. How daft do you have to be to put a button for "seating" right between a female doll's legs
They could have come up with a better engineering solution, after all they've made niftier gimmicks in the past. Imagine if they had put a lever between a boy doll's legs, haha...

[tailrustedtealeaf]

Wow, that it wasn't advertised was really strange. I had thought there was an accessory that came with the doll for that purpose (like a throne or something since she is a queen) but looks like that's not the case. Seems to me like a planned accessory was cut or that everyone just designed the toy by closing their eyes.

[Ponyfan]

I’ve been wondering if the button was supposed to be on her tummy originally as shown on the box and then someone altered the final design to put the button between her legs without changing the photos on the box.   I do think whoever designed the button to be there wasn’t thinking and it’s a bad design choice.

Ponyfan

[SaraMari]

If it's meant to be triggered by sitting why does it shriek or say oops? Like it's not usual to shriek when you sit down

[Leave a Whisper]

Yeah I saw that. I could understand if they had been meant to interact with playsets like a Playground, or County Fair. But they weren't and whoever did this should feel bad.

That's okay. It'll go down in history with other What Were They Thinking? Toy designs and we'll all have a good time making fun of it.

[Pokeyonekenobie]

Kind of makes me wonder if someone is going to hide some away and then try to sell them for a profit later.  You never know how "collectible" some of the new toy lines are going to end up.

[Ponyfan]

My local Walmart still has this doll on the shelves.


Ponyfan

[Zapper]

My local Walmart still has this doll on the shelves.

Get one to review her for us. Just kidding, that is one ugly doll.

Post Merge: August 14, 2020, 02:47:15 PM

If it's meant to be triggered by sitting why does it shriek or say oops? Like it's not usual to shriek when you sit down

Poppy works in mysterious ways!

[lovesbabysquirmy]

they re-used the design from previous years of Troll toys... several Trolls have 2 button mechanisms but these were from the Ol' Days of the 90's

[Carrehz]

haha, ohhhh dear. Very unfortunate How the heck did the design go through so many people without ANYone blowing the whistle on it? I mean, a lot of the time when controversies like this pop up, it's like "oh c'mon, it's only bad if you have a dirty mind" but this one... how did they miss it. XP

[Nemesis]

Is she supposed to be tumbling or falling when she sits? Like a toddler trying to learn to walk? It is a BABY version of Poppy, so is that possible? I’m just trying to come up with an explanation for “Oops!”... ;

Anyhoo... yeah, it’s a terrible design choice. I honestly, sincerely don’t think it was MEANT to be inappropriate (as some conspiracy theorists around the web are raving about), but the overall effect is... cringe-inducing. That said, I think the loons around the internet talking about boycotts and such are taking it to a major extreme... But that’s the internet for you. Everyone loves a scandal.

As LaW points out: in a few years, it’ll be on one of those “Top 10” lists of bad toy ideas, alongside “Growing Up Skipper”, and those 50s science kits that came with live uranium samples and a geiger counter. <_<;

they re-used the design from previous years of Troll toys... several Trolls have 2 button mechanisms but these were from the Ol' Days of the 90's

That’s a really interesting point that I haven’t seen anyone bring up—good detective work!

[Harmonie]

Yikes. Glad it got discontinued.

[Zapper]

Is she supposed to be tumbling or falling when she sits? Like a toddler trying to learn to walk? It is a BABY version of Poppy, so is that possible? I’m just trying to come up with an explanation for “Oops!”... ;

Anyhoo... yeah, it’s a terrible design choice. I honestly, sincerely don’t think it was MEANT to be inappropriate (as some conspiracy theorists around the web are raving about), but the overall effect is... cringe-inducing.

Yeah I am pretty sure this is how it was meant to be. But like others have said this should have gotten reworked some time during the design process
It simply shows how cost cutting and rushing out products is more important than thinking twice about how certain designs could be perceived.

[JazzMatazz]

Have you seen the video of someone claiming the new giggle g5 pinkie is the same thing? The on switch is between the legs but the sensor is the face. Or the lol dolls being color changed in water when that was heavily advertised that they did that online...... I think some parents are just looking for someone to blame for their lack of research since the troll went viral. (which was an actual poor design)

[Zapper]

The lol dolls being color changed in water when that was heavily advertised

I think the issue with L.O.L. was/is more about their skimpy and sexy clothes. Sometimes kids are given these as presents and parents can't control and research everything. Toy companies could just not produce baby dolls in adult human lingerie in case of L.O.L.
Should parents not voice their concerns about these designs?
I mean, it's perfectly possible these things are bad for girls without there being a conspiracy. Little girls are way too early exposed to crazy body image and sexualized clothes via their toys just because toy makers these days want to tap into the secondary market of adult collectors. But I gotta ask myself: what adult enjoys babies in bralets and lacy panties? I can only think of people who enjoy crap like Toddlers and Tiaras. Sorry to anyone who enjoys the L.O.L. dolls that are not dressed like Lolitas

And "it's just plastic, it's not a real girl" is no excuse for me either. After all, these are deliberately made to look like cutesy female babies and not art toys like Kidrobot's Munny.
They have a grown up version of L.O.L. which bothers me less. Except for their hard nipples. Of course MGAE had to put something like that on the dolls. They seem to love scandal. Does a girl really need to play with her doll's erect nips? Doubt it. And dolls don't need genitalia either. It's all just uselessly sexing up a toy for a kid just so adults can get a kick out of it (doll collectors loved the nips, obviously). We're weird and sometimes I think we have almost as much entitlement as Bronies when it comes to fashion dolls. Some companies are pandering more to us than to parents.