[Vision2020] Local Shopper Questions Doll's Religious Message

[Art Deco]

Is this akin to seeing the image of the alleged Virgin Mary on a pancake from Shari's?

W.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tom Hansen 
  To: vision2020 at moscow.com 
  Sent: Friday, December 05, 2008 3:11 PM
  Subject: [Vision2020] Local Shopper Questions Doll's Religious Message


  >From today's (December 5, 2008) Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman (Wasilla, 
  Alaska) -

  -----------------------------------------------------------

  Local shopper questions doll's religious message

  By Michael Rovito
  Frontiersman

  ------------

  The Fisher-Price Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Cuddle and Coo doll, 
  pictured, gurgles baby talk, including a phrase that sounds like 'Islam is 
  the Light.'

  http://tinyurl.com/684war

  ------------

  WASILLA - Some Target customers in the Valley are angry over a doll that 
  apparently says "Islam is the light" when activated by motion.

  The doll has prompted some parents to ask the store to take it off shelves.

  The toy in question, Fisher-Price's Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Cuddle 
  and Coo, is a motion-activated doll that babbles baby talk when activated. 
  After listening to one of the dolls brought to the Frontiersman office, 
  the toy seems to clearly say "Islam is the light" at the end of the third 
  track.

  Internal communication between local Target officials obtained from a 
  store employee shows the reaction from parents has not taken lightly.

  "Many guests and team members have heard what the baby says, and they are 
  finding it extremely offensive," the document says. "A guest recorded the 
  baby and threatened to give it to the news if we didn't pull immediately. 
  Product has been pulled."

  But Nicole Engman of Wasilla said the baby is back on shelves at Target 
  and she thinks it shouldn't be there.

  "I was shocked," Engman said.

  She said her main concern is the number of children who might receive the 
  doll and hear what is says.

  "The public needs to be aware of it," Engman said.

  Unlike many toys that talk, the Cuddle and Coo doll does not have quotes 
  printed on the box indicating what it might say.

  Engman pointed out the "Islam is the light" statement comes at the end of 
  the third track, following some babble. She said a parent buying the doll 
  might not hear the phrase before making a purchase.

  Target reportedly has not announced plans to pull the product, and the 
  manufacturer has not issued a recall.

  Scott Hayes, the Wasilla Target store manager, said he doesn't have a 
  comment on the issue because he has to see how the company's going to 
  respond.

  Whether to pull the product is up to Target corporate, Hayes said. 
  Target's normal return policy will apply to the doll.

  Consumers complaining about the talking doll aren't limited to the Mat-Su 
  Valley. Across the country, reports say some can clearly hear the entire 
  phrase, while others say only the word "light" can be clearly heard. 
  Others have said the phrase appears to be a subliminal message.

  A newspaper in Greenville, Tenn., ran a lengthy article featuring a local 
  resident who said she got the creeps from the doll. A man in Plano, Texas, 
  told his local news he doesn't think the doll is appropriate for young 
  children.

  Fisher-Price has reportedly said it will change the recording in future 
  dolls, which will eliminate the "Islam is the Light" phrase.

  There have been no reports or word from the manufacturer as to how the 
  phrase might have ended up on the recording.

  -----------------------------------------------------------

  Seeya round town, Moscow.

  Tom Hansen
  Moscow, Idaho
   
  "For a lapse Lutheran born-again Buddhist pan-Humanist Universalist 
  Unitarian Wiccan Agnostic like myself there's really no reason ever to go 
  to work."

  - Roy Zimmerman


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