Update August 5, 2020: Although this was originally published a year ago, it’s gotten quite a lot of views the past several weeks in the UK. Could someone please tell me where it was posted there? Thanks very much.
Fugglers: The (not) funny, ugly sensation with human-like teeth,
an adoption certificate, and a golliwog. They need to be stopped.
A popular plush toy with human-like teeth, marketed as repulsive, is filling up shelves on Target, Amazon, and many other sites. Here’s why we need to protest, and why the Fuggler company needs to revamp the marketing.
It’s not because of the weird human-like teeth, nor because of its general ugliness, which the company revels in. Creepy but whatever.
It’s not because of oversensitive parents.
It’s because Fuggler uses an insulting, tired, ages-old marketing trope of adoption to promote these toys.
“Adopt at Your Own Risk!”
“Look deep into the vacant eyes of all the Fugglers up for adoption. Narrow it down to the one who repulses you the least. Or the most—we don’t know your life.”
“Take a hot sec to consider why you’re sabotaging your own happiness.”
Yep. That’s actually what they are saying. And in the final step of the Fuggler Adoption Process, “Remove your Fuggler from its box with great caution. Immediately regret your decision.”
Pretty funny, right? No. Not today, in a world where adult adoptees continue to be marginalized and their voices suppressed. Not in a world where actual human adoptees are re-homed liked animals. Not in a world where adoption, which can be full of love and joy, is also full of trauma and grief. Making fun of adoption should never be considered a terrific marketing ploy.
Stop.
To make things worse, there is at least one Fuggler that is a golliwog. Don’t know what that is? It’s a racist caricature, known well in England, with dark skin, big white eyes, big red lips: its roots are in the racism of minstrel shows and the depictions of Little Black Sambo. Did you know that British writer Agatha Christie published Ten Little N****** in 1939, a children’s poem about the deaths of 10 black children, the cover of which showed a golliwog lynched, hanging with blood dripping down? Here’s the cover, which at the time was well-received and accepted:
Here’s the golliwog in Fugglers:
The Fugglers come in many colors. This one should have been discarded, and made in a different color, with different eyes, and without red lips.
Here’s the golliwog with its adoption certificate:
Please join us in demanding the removal of the racist golliwog toy. End the production of the dark brown Fuggler with white eyes and red lips. There are lots of other colors that can be used. It’s an easy fix.
Remove the outdated, harmful, grotesque adoption language. Surely you can come up with a better marketing approach in 2019.
Contact SpinMasters, the Canadian-based branding company for Fuggler, at SpinMaster.com. On Twitter, they are @SpinMaster and @spinmasteruk.
Contact Fugglers at fuggler.com. On Twitter, they are @fugglers and on Insta, they are Fugglers.