These scandalous toys drew the ire of parents the world over. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most controversial children’s toys among adults, taking into account their dangerous manufacturing, harmful messaging, or infamous legacy.
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00:00 They want kids to grow up too fast, basically.
00:03 - Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down
00:08 our picks for the most controversial children's toys
00:11 among adults, taking into account
00:13 their dangerous manufacturing, harmful messaging,
00:16 or infamous legacy.
00:18 - You can make her grow from a young girl
00:22 to a teenager in just seconds if you can.
00:25 - Number 10, Hillies.
00:29 On one hand, roller skates built into tennis shoes
00:32 sounds like an accident waiting to happen.
00:35 On the other, it sounds like every kid's dream.
00:38 (bell ringing)
00:39 - Freedom!
00:41 - Is a wheel in your soul.
00:43 It's Hillies, and it's all about fun.
00:46 - So despite the risks, Hillies quickly became
00:49 one of the most iconic fashion and toy brands of the 2000s.
00:53 But that popularity also caused a whole lot of slips,
00:57 slides, and other injuries.
00:59 (thudding)
01:02 Especially among first-time skaters.
01:08 The tumbles continued to pile up until,
01:10 eventually, parents pushed back.
01:12 We're talking protests, news reports,
01:15 and even several school-wide bans.
01:18 Nowadays, it's safe to say most parents
01:20 stay clear of Hillies, and no amount of slick commercials
01:24 will get them to change their mind.
01:26 - Hillies, the original shoe with the wheel in the heel.
01:29 (whooshing)
01:31 Use your speed, use your skill, use your style.
01:36 - Number nine, Teletubbies, talking po.
01:40 As far as children's programming goes,
01:43 you'd think Teletubbies would be
01:44 as unproblematic as you can get.
01:46 - The new Talk Together Teletubbies.
01:48 They talk together, play together, even sing together.
01:52 - But that didn't stop parents
01:54 from picking up their pitchforks about this talking dog.
01:57 Apparently, Po said all sorts of vile things,
02:01 including slurs and curse words.
02:03 Not quite what you want out of a kid-friendly dog,
02:06 that's for sure.
02:07 - Talking Teletubbies.
02:09 - Tinky Winky.
02:10 (squeaking)
02:11 - Big hug.
02:11 - However, manufacturer Hasbro alleges
02:15 it was all a massive misunderstanding.
02:18 They claim the Po dog actually spoke
02:20 his trademark Teletubbie gibberish,
02:22 which occasionally sounded like bad words out of context.
02:26 (Po howling)
02:28 Either way, parents forced Hasbro
02:33 to include a language guide with future Po toys,
02:36 ensuring his words would never get lost in translation again.
02:40 Number eight, Black Canary Barbie.
02:42 Barbie is one of the most recognizable toys of all time.
02:46 Black Canary is one of DC's most popular female characters.
02:49 - Do you have any idea what you've done?
02:51 - Putting them together sounds like a great idea
02:54 for some cross promotion, right?
02:56 Wrong.
02:57 See, Black Canary wears a voluptuous leather jacket,
03:00 black boots, and skin-tight fishnets.
03:03 Check out Mattel's Black Canary Barbie
03:05 due out this September.
03:06 Biker jacket, boots, heavy makeup,
03:09 and fishnets, not sold separately.
03:11 It doesn't take superhuman brains
03:14 to understand why parents weren't thrilled
03:16 to see that on store shelves.
03:17 Some groups even went as far as calling her an S&M Barbie.
03:21 While the doll doesn't actually show anything lewd,
03:24 it never recovered from the poor first impressions.
03:27 - Is that scary to hear?
03:28 - A little bit, yeah.
03:29 You wouldn't expect that with Barbie.
03:30 - I don't think it's good for young girls,
03:32 'cause I guess, like, when I was little,
03:34 I tried to be like them.
03:35 - To this day, the Black Canary release
03:38 is still considered one of the most risque Barbies ever made.
03:42 Number seven, Sky Dancers.
03:45 For all intents purposes, Sky Dancers should have been
03:48 the next big thing in children's toys.
03:50 - Sky Dancers!
03:51 - But when kids actually started playing with them,
03:56 a massive design flaw emerged.
03:58 After the dolls took to the sky,
04:00 their propeller-like wings had a nasty habit
04:03 of ramming right into kids' faces.
04:04 - Hold the magic key and watch them dance
04:06 and light up the sky.
04:08 She looks like a dancing star!
04:09 - As you can imagine, adults weren't pleased to learn
04:12 that the hottest toy on the block
04:14 also caused trips to the ER.
04:16 Those same disgruntled buyers took their concerns
04:19 all the way to the top.
04:20 Strong Army manufacturer Galoob
04:22 into issuing a nationwide recall.
04:25 Sky Dancers later relaunched with new protective wings.
04:28 - You make her dance and fly!
04:30 They're Sky Dancers!
04:31 Just pull her magical string
04:33 and her pretty wings spin 'round!
04:34 - But where parents are concerned,
04:36 it's too little, too late.
04:39 Number six, Magnetics.
04:42 Like its name implies,
04:43 Magnetics were a lot like actual magnets.
04:46 - Extreme with the cool of Magnetics.
04:48 - Magnetics and Magnetic Extreme!
04:50 - But instead of magnetism, it attracted controversy.
04:54 While the brand's small magnetic pieces
04:56 offered a lot of creative building,
04:58 they also posed serious health risks.
05:01 One note, Magnetics could cause choking,
05:03 intestinal issues, and even death.
05:06 - Two-year-old son Benjamin swallowed two magnets
05:09 that slipped out of their plastic casing
05:11 and he needed emergency surgery for internal injuries.
05:15 - And one of those things is a big red flag.
05:18 But put them all together
05:20 and Magnetics had a full-blown parental scandal
05:23 on their hands.
05:24 Say what you will, but these parents got results.
05:27 In response to their very loud concerns,
05:30 the entire Consumer Product Safety Commission
05:32 stepped in to issue a recall.
05:34 - Palmer Family is suing the company
05:36 that now distributes Magnetics.
05:38 The family's attorney says the original maker
05:40 only recalled an old version of the toy
05:43 but made newly designed Magnetics available in stores.
05:47 As it turned out, parents had every right
05:50 to be worried about Magnetics.
05:51 Number five, Harry Potter Nimbus 2000.
05:55 When Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
05:57 became a cultural phenomenon in theaters,
06:00 Mattel tried to capitalize on the hype
06:02 with a line of themed toys.
06:05 Enter the Nimbus 2000,
06:06 a replica of Harry's broom from the movie.
06:09 - It's a broomstick.
06:10 - That's not just a broomstick, Harry.
06:13 It's a Nimbus 2000.
06:15 It vibrated too in order to simulate actual flying,
06:19 but therein lied the issue.
06:21 Keep in mind, you rolled the broom between your legs.
06:24 Allegedly, it didn't take long
06:26 before the buzzing broomstick became popular
06:28 for all the wrong reasons.
06:29 - It vibrates, so it's a whooshing sound and it vibrates.
06:33 So you put it between your legs and you press this.
06:36 - The revelation left many moms and dads shocked,
06:39 infuriated, offended, or a mix of all three.
06:43 They turned that indignation into a movement.
06:46 And several angry reviews later,
06:48 Mattel quickly discontinued the toy altogether.
06:52 - Timmy, why is your door locked, Timmy?
06:54 (audience laughing)
06:57 Timmy, are you playing with your broom again?
06:59 - Number four, Aquadots.
07:02 Whether they were bought as Bindis, Beatos,
07:05 Pixos, or Aquabeads,
07:07 these colored plastic beads all had one thing in common.
07:10 They made kids sick.
07:12 - What can you dot then spray for fun that stays?
07:15 - Aquadots!
07:17 - In 2007, distributor Spin Master admitted
07:20 that instead of the industry standard chemicals,
07:22 some of their products had shipped
07:24 with a cheaper alternative.
07:25 One that turned out to be a sedative pro-drug.
07:28 - Every kid wants one of these toys.
07:30 That's what makes it so scary.
07:33 - Parents are used to concerns about lead in toys,
07:35 but this concern is more disturbing.
07:37 - It caused illness, hospitalization,
07:40 and parental anger all in one.
07:42 Ironically, the blowback was just as global
07:45 as the product itself.
07:46 To prove it, once the news broke,
07:48 Aquadots and its affiliate brands
07:50 were subjected to a massive multinational recall.
07:53 - Moms we talked to were clearly scared
07:55 about the poison risk.
07:56 - Yeah, that's what I heard this morning, yeah.
07:59 And then I was kind of freaking out.
08:01 - And this latest recall has them thinking
08:03 about the kinds of toys they'll be buying for Christmas.
08:05 - Clearly, toy safety is something
08:08 every parent on the earth can agree on.
08:10 Number three, Growing Up Skipper.
08:12 In 1975, Mattel's Spruce Dub Barbie's
08:16 oft-forgotten sister with a new toy line about growing up.
08:19 With a turn of Skipper's arm,
08:21 she would stretch an inch taller.
08:23 - Meet new Growing Up Skipper.
08:25 She's two dolls in one.
08:27 - Oh, and sprouted new pair of breasts too.
08:30 Skipper's instant puberty didn't land well with parents,
08:34 many of whom kicked up enough dust
08:36 to force a complete redesign of the character.
08:39 - You can have fun with Skipper when she's little,
08:41 then suddenly you can make her grow up enough
08:43 to wear her glamorous teenage skirt.
08:46 - That wouldn't be the last time
08:48 a Barbie landed in hot water either.
08:51 In the early 2000s, the Happy Family line
08:53 scandalized parents by allowing Midge
08:56 to quote unquote give birth.
08:59 ♪ Dr. Barbie on a call ♪
09:01 ♪ It's a girl ♪
09:02 ♪ Changing table, a cradle-adding doll ♪
09:05 - Mattel eventually gave in to the scrutiny
09:07 and replaced the set with a non-pregnant Midge.
09:10 Number two, Cabbage Patch Snack Time Kids.
09:14 On Christmas of 1996, kids unwrapped their gifts,
09:18 got to playing, and soon started to scream.
09:21 Despite being a top seller during the holiday frame,
09:24 Mattel's Cabbage Patch Snack Time Kids
09:27 had a pretty major defect.
09:29 - Wow, she really chews.
09:31 - Eating her is so much fun.
09:33 - Your brunette is all gone.
09:35 - Let me feed her.
09:37 - They did eat plastic food as advertised,
09:39 but they also chewed on anything else
09:41 that got lodged in their chompers,
09:43 including children's fingers.
09:45 - Now this is in response to reports nationwide
09:48 that children were getting their hair and their fingers
09:51 caught in the mouth of the Snack Time Cabbage Patch Kid doll.
09:54 - Given just how many units were sold,
09:57 the push pack came fast and it came hard.
10:00 Eventually, Mattel relented and voluntarily
10:03 pulled the toy from store shelves.
10:04 From the must-have Christmas gift
10:06 to one of the company's biggest blunders,
10:09 the Snack Time Kids might hold the record
10:11 for the biggest parent turnaround in toy history.
10:14 - Mattel is also offering customers
10:16 a $40 cash refund for each doll.
10:18 Company also says it will pull this item
10:20 from toy store shelves.
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10:36 - Number one, the Easy-Bake Oven.
10:41 Throw aside cookies, pastries, and cakes,
10:45 the only thing the ovens came with
10:46 was a recipe for disaster.
10:49 The key ingredient?
10:50 Children's hands.
10:51 Ruining decades of brand support,
10:54 the 2006 model of the Easy-Bake Oven
10:56 caught hundreds of fingers in its front door.
10:59 Since it's, you know, an oven,
11:01 the injuries also left some kids
11:02 with second and third degree burns.
11:05 Suffice it to say, the only thing hotter than the Easy-Bake
11:08 was the parents' fury.
11:10 - I found out it was a recall toy.
11:12 - Even after a recall and redesign,
11:15 the toy line still hasn't fully recovered from the backlash.
11:19 At this point, it's obvious that most parents think
11:22 the Easy-Bake Oven has burnt its last dish.
11:26 - Let's bake with the new Easy-Bake Ultimate Oven.
11:28 ♪ New Easy-Bake, yeah, it's the one for you ♪
11:32 - Which of these controversial toys shocked you the most?
11:35 Sound off in the comments down below.
11:37 - The action comes after complaints
11:39 that some of the dolls chewed children's hair and fingers.
11:42 - Did you enjoy this video?
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