According to recent reports, Playmobil’s pirate slave toy causes controversy, but customers don’t feel offended. Discussions began when the mother of a 5-year-old child filed a complaint against the Lego company because her son was given instructions to create a slave-like toy in the recent pirate ship she has purchased.
Humanity has had its share of mistakes in history and, yet, these have to be mentioned, regardless how offending it might be sometimes. Not according to some U.S. residents, who think we’d be better off if we did not mention slavery and other dark eras in our history.
Similar debates were recently caused by one of Playmobil’s pirate toys that looked like a genuine African American slave. The toy was included in one of the pirate ship sets commercialized by the company.
Ida Lockett has bought the pirate ship for her 5-year-old son because she thought the toy would stimulate the boy’s imagination and construction skills. The woman was incredibly offended when her son told her that he has to place a neck shackle on one of the pirate toys. When Ida took a closer look at the toy, she noticed that the pirate was actually a dark-skinned slave and decided to file a complaint against the toy producer.
The visibly irritated woman told the company that she would have liked a simple pirate-looking toy. In her opinion, the toy is a clear illustration of a slave and the written instructions on the package confirm it because kids are asked to place a ‘slave collar’ around the toy’s neck.
Playmobil quickly responded to the woman’s complaint saying that the toy is nothing but a pirate on a ship. They have further explained that the figure represents a former captive, who eventually became a pirate. The toy producer concluded the official declaration by saying that they had no intention to offend customers.
The Sacramento NAACP was not convinced by Playmobil’s recent declaration. They, too, think the toy is offensive and they made a call for it to be banned.
Customers, on the other hand, think the whole situation was blown out of proportions. Judging by the comments that customers left on social networks, the decision to ban the slave-looking toy has not received users’ support.
Most customers think these toys allow children to better understand important events in our history. They suggest offended parents to let their children freely play with toys and transform any potentially offensive objects in playful accessories.
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