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Parents outraged as Toys ‘R’ Us sells 'crystal meth' Breaking Bad dolls

US toy store Toys 'R' Us sells range including figure of a drug-dealer holding tiny rocks of crystal meth based on the television series Breaking Bad



The American toy shop Toys “R” Us has been criticised by parents for selling a range of drug dealer dolls based on the television series Breaking Bad.

One of the six-inch figures, which sell for $17.99 (£11.16), even portrays a dealer clutching a gun, with a detachable bag of cash and blue rocks of the drug crystal meth.

Others are dressed in Hazmat protective suits, with a description reading: “as [the] Breaking Bad action figure stares at you from inside his collector friendly clamshell package, he dares you to make your move.”

The dolls are sold as part of a deal with Sony Pictures Television, which distributes the show, in Toys “R” Us’s “collectable” selection, and are aimed at adults and children older than 14. (oh well, I guess that makes it ok, then )

However, parents took to the toy giant’s Facebook page to say that they did not want their teenagers to be exposed to drug dealing even at the age of 15.

One wrote: “Nothing says toys for kids like an action figure with a bag of crystal meth. I can’t wait for my 15 year to grow up like that.”

more...

Quick! Someone fetch my clutching-pearls and ready the fainting couch!

Didn't they always sell action figures of villains?











yrs,
rubato

Anti-heroes.

Perhaps kids today are sophisticated enough to get the distinction. But call me old fashioned and puritanical, somehow the idea of a kid playing with an action figure toting a bag of crystal meth doesn't sit right with me.

Why not? It's not like they can aspire to work hard, get educated and get a good job in order to achieve the American Dream. Given the wealth disparity in this nation, kids today are probably better off aspiring to be drug dealers.

Walter White is one of the most disturbingly evil characters in popular culture.


yrs,
rubato

Whatever, 'Breaking Bad' is scum fodder

I heard ToysRUs is pulling the dolls fromthier shelves due to the backlash.
.

MajGenl.Meade wrote:Whatever, 'Breaking Bad' is scum fodder

Why the unintelligent trolling? Is there a problem you need to talk about?




yrs,
rubato

That backlash in full (p. 94)

Ebola: It’s not just a virus, but a Halloween costume
WITH Halloween approaching, US stores are selling Hazmat suits that include respirators and gas masks. The costume resembles protective gear being worn by medical staff fighting the Ebola virus.
In Dallas, where a second person was diagnosed as having the disease, many people think it is insensitive.

Giantmicrobes, which makes a line of plush toys based on viruses and other microscopic organisms, has sold out its entire Ebola stock, including Ebola dolls and an Ebola Petri Dish. The Stamford, Connecticut manufacturer said Ebola is “the T Rex of microbes”.

—
Daily Telegraph

Apparently the toys were in the adult section of Toys R Us (who knew they had one?) and are labeled as appropriate for age 15 and older. What is the Florida woman's beef? She can't control her kids sufficiently to keep them out of a small section of the store?

Walmart and several other stores carry the toys and have not - as of yet - removed them from shelves.

I think action figures are fine if they just connote violence--I recall a friend of mine had a figure of a bond villain, Oddjob, who had a spring loaded arm and could fling the iron derby (OK it was plastic) just as Oddjob did in the movie. But bring drugs into the action figure discussion and then they are somehow horrible wrong. commit all the make-believe mayhem you want, but even fake drugs go beyond the pale.

rubato wrote:Walter White is one of the most disturbingly evil characters in popular culture.
yrs,
rubato

rubato wrote:Why the unintelligent trolling? Is there a problem you need to talk about?

I don't know why you do it, rubato. Getting some early a.m. jollies along with your donuts is my best guess but I don't want to talk about you. You have that covered.

On the dolls.... (aside from the funny inclusion of Nixon and Bush - that was quite a good one, rube).... the difference between Bond villains, the Joker et al and a meth dealer doll is that the latter is not a merely a make-believe character but is a representation of a grim reality. Yes I know the figure is a fictional character in a sleazy, vile, good for nothing, piece of shit TV program, but you all know what I mean. There is no way kids should be encouraged to play games in which they enact drug dealing.

There is no way kids should be encouraged to play games in which they enact drug dealing.

But game sin which they throw lethal derbies or hack limbs off with simulated axes, etc., are fine to you? While I don't think any of them cause lasting "harm", to me, simulated drug deals are preferable simulated violence.

Very few children (pace school shootings) are encouraged in real life to hack limbs off etc., nor are they likely to meet up with gun dealers and axe salespersons hanging around the schools.

Every child is liable to exposure to drugs and dealers - teaching them through game playing that meth is a part of fun games is to water the garden. So is glorifying drug dealing as a method of earning money to pay bills - which is why the program Breaking Bad is made by scum for scum.

Well I think that kids know the difference between make believe and reality a lot better than most adults give them credit for. And just like running around with guns or axes (and many kids are exposed to guns while in grade school; many areas have a lot of gun violence) didn't turn us into homicidal maniacs, exposure to fake meth will not turn them into drug addicts. I understand others disagree, but unless we ban all play, we cannot stop it.

edited to add: For example, I recall playing rob the bank as a kid, where we would take turns being the crooks, the teller, and police, rob the bank, and end up with a good shoot out. We knew there were cops and banks, but we never acted it out in real life.

Does the fact that the dolls are indicated for age 15 and older not a substantial factor to consider?

Yes, target them towards the kids who can afford to buy drugs. Very clever marketing.

Big RR - neither you (then) nor kids (today) are confronted by adults and peers trying to sell them guns and engage in bank robberies. You emulated fiction without having to engage the reality

You were not (much) - but kids today are - confronted by adults and peers trying to sell them drugs. For a toy company to make profit by encouraging the social acceptance of drugs (oh yes they are) by familiarity - and thus extending tacit approval to the reality that children face - is reprehensible.

How'd you feel about candy cigarettes? OK or not OK and why? How about a doll set "Ken rapes Barbie"? Or a female doll with bruises and cuts - Hooker and Pimp set?

What's wrong with those things if drug pushing is a valid adolescent play-activity?