Parents are going viral on social media after raising concern over some of their children’s toys — the L.O.L Surprise Dolls. They claimed that if submerged in cold water, what looked like lingerie would appear on the dolls’ skin.
Across platforms like YouTube and Instagram, multiple users have shown off the process of revealing the toys’ “secret feature.” One mom recorded her live reaction of disbelief as tattoos and “inappropriate fishnet stockings” were revealed. Her full video has been re-uploaded and shared multiple times, and can be seen at the bottom of this article.
Is There Really an Issue?
However, other parents were defending the toys, saying that kids will likely not associate the “secret” feature with anything sexual. One mom, Jamie Wilson, shared a video of her dunking her daughter’s toys in the sink as she asks her daughter what she thinks the dolls’ newly-revealed features look like. Her daughter describes them as “bathing suits.”
In her caption, she wrote, “Sexualizing every single child’s toy is getting out of hand. Do I agree with all? No. But some of ya’ll are being extreme.”
@jamiewilson9617 Sexualizing every single child’s toy is getting out of hand. Do i agree with all? No. But some of y’all are being extreme. ##fyp ##foryou ##foryoupage
♬ original sound – jamiewilson9617
Color-Changing Widely Advertised
The L.O.L Surprise Dolls accusations come not too long after Hasbro’s Trolls Poppy doll controversy. Similar to the L.O.L dolls, the Trolls doll was accused of child exploitation after a sound-activation button was placed under the doll’s skirt.
While Hasbro responded by promptly pulling the dolls from shelves, the L.O.L Dolls face a different situation. The color-changing aspect is prominently advertised in commercials featuring the toy — so, it’s not really a secret. In 2019, a commercial advertised the color-changing dolls. A L.O.L doll was submerged in water, revealing smudged eye makeup, gold markings/tattoos on the body, and color/pattern changes on the doll’s clothing.
Notably, the parents who claim that the color-changing feature reveals “lingerie” all have the doll’s completely void of their intended clothing while submerging them. With the added clothing, the revealed markings look more like jewelry or tattoos.
MGA Entertainment, the manufacturer of the dolls, issued a response to Fast Company after the recent controversy.
“L.O.L Surprise! is a fashion-forward doll brand designed to be fun and expressive,” a spokesperson told Fast Company. “We work very hard to be a brand that listens and adapts to our fans’ requests. We acknowledge the recent feedback received and thank you for bringing it to our attention. We have implemented comprehensive corrective measures to our design and approval process while ensuring the essence of the brand is kept intact.”
MGA did not provide further detail on their “corrective measures.”
The full video referenced in the article can be watched below.
RELATED: Hasbro Pulls ‘Trolls’ Doll After Child Abuse Controversy
An online petition demanding that a popular children’s doll be pulled from major retailers has gained more than 300,000 signatures. In it, people claim a Trolls World Tour doll promoted child abuse and pedophilia. Now, Hasbro is pulling the “Trolls World Tour Giggle and Sing Poppy” doll from shelves following the controversy.
Lol Dolls Lingerie — Sources
KUTV — Lol Dolls Lingerie controversy
Snopes
Fast Company