Mattel Says Talking Doll Doesn't Promote Islam
Elmo Live, this doll isn't.
How good is your hearing? Toy giant Mattel, is fielding lots of calls from consumers claiming that the Little Mommy Cuddle & Coo doll says "Islam is the light," in the middle of it's other "baby" noises -- coos, gurgles and giggles.
What do you think? Give a listen:
You Tube: Little Mommy Cuddle & Coo
After listening to the doll repeatedly, I must admit I'm hearing something, but I'm wondering if my judgement is being clouded by what I've already heard on the news.
Many Islamic leaders are dismissing the claims, saying that it wouldn't make sense for a mainstream toy company to manufacturer a doll with a hidden religious message.
Fisher-Price has released a statement that says in part: The Little Mommy Cuddle ‘n Coo dolls feature realistic baby sounds including cooing, giggling, and baby babble with no real sentence structure. The only scripted word the doll says is “mama.” There is a sound that may resemble something close to the word “night, right, or light.” ...Because the original sound track is compressed into a file that can be played through an inexpensive toy speaker, actual sounds may be imprecise."
Fisher-Price also said that if customers have any questions or concerns they can call the consumer relations center at 800-524-TOYS (8697). At this time there are no plans to recall the doll.
From what I’ve heard these dolls were made in China, so I’m guessing that what sounds like baby babble in Chinese comes across as something else in English (or close to something else, I’m still not hearing the message clearly). It’s the million monkeys at a million typewriters theory — give them a million years and they’ll come up with the complete works of Shakespeare.
As long as it also says “Judaism is da bomb” and “Christianity rocks,” I don’t see what the problem is.
Well, another aspect to this is that people are hardwired to make sense out of patterns. Facial recognition (which also makes us see faces in stuff like clouds) is one such example of this hardwiring in our brains. Verbal recognition (of things that aren’t really words) acts in the same way. We subconsciously make what we hear “fit” into a recognizable pattern.
Hey, I have a 15-month old at home who regularly makes noises that sound like words.
Just the other day, she recited the opening to the Gettysburg Address. Course, she thought she was asking for more cookies.
What I heard is, “Paul is dead.” Seriously, when are we going to get past this ridiculosity! The doll no more mentions Islam than the Proctor and Gamble logo is demonic.
Oh puleeze. Once you know what it is *supposed* to say, you will be able to make it sound that way. With all the xtian propaganda shoved down our throats in every facet of our mainstream society, I think it will be *ok* for the little kids to hear the word Islam, and not get all confused.
Amy
It doesn’t sound like it to me. But, if it did, that’d be OK, as long as the same doll, also said “Jesus is the way” or “Judaism rocks,” “Buddhism is the bomb,” etc.
I hear it pretty clearly. Apparently it has a few things to say about the devil too LOL (I watched another video.)
I’m a live and let live kind of person. Parents, just like in every other situation have to use their own judgement about what to expose their kids to. It will totally depend on their perspective as to whether the msg is appropriate or not.
You live-and-let-live liberals are in serious denial if you can’t clearly hear what this doll is saying. Islam is the light? Not in my house. And that’s where this toy and others from Mattel will be until the company acknowledges this religious propoganda: NOT IN MY HOUSE!
Jesus is the light — and there’s no on/off switch!
If this is the best al Qaeda can do, I’d say we’ve won the war on terror.
Let’s hope Western parents don’t seek a refund for their own kids if after hearing them mumble something innocent, yet irks the parents’ bigoted leanings. Maybe the parents were offended by the hijab. It seems like even dolls lost their ‘freedom of speech’ and ‘religious freedom’ after the Patriot Act – In the meantime, I could probably use a few cases of these dolls, (for families of children who don’t fear baby talk) – at wholesale rates of course. 5pillar.wordpress.com