Some concerned parents have contacted the Mattel toy company with allegations that one of its Little Mommy Cuddle ‘n Coo doll utters words which promote Islam.
A number of parents contacted the company when they heard the doll say these words: “Islam is the light.”
While the doll appears to utter “Islam is the light,” the company denies that is actually what it is programmed to say. Mattel insists that Little Mommy Cuddle ‘n Coo features realistic baby sounds, including cooing, giggling, and baby babble, with no real sentence structure. The toy company claims the only scripted word the doll says is “mama.”
Mattel also contends that because the original sound track is compressed into a file that can be played through an inexpensive toy speaker, actual sounds may be imprecise or distorted. Jan Markell, founder and director of Olive Tree Ministries, is skeptical about Mattel’s explanation.
“It does seem to be saying, ‘Islam is the light.’ I don’t think too many people would argue with that, so I think they’re being a little disingenuous,” Markell points out. “And this is not a healthy thing to be putting out in the marketplace when we’re in a war on terror, and little children are so susceptible to the messages they hear — even from a doll — then to take them into the school and talk about them. So yeah, this is a serious thing.”
Below is a comment from a concerned parent:
I completely agree with you. I first saw the doll at a family function in which another child had the doll. My daughter liked it, so I bought one for her. We’ve had it for awhile, and I always thought the cooing sounds were cute, and fairly life like. When I heard the story about the doll saying “Islam is the light,” I was skeptical. I figured it would be difficult to impossible to make out. I never dreamed of taking the doll away, or back to the store where I bought it. But when I listened to the doll, it was so clear what she was saying. My mouth hit the floor. How could I have not picked that up before?! The more you listen to it, the more unsettling it is. It’s just plain creepy. It’s definitely NOT something I want my daughter repeating. I, too, object to the message being hidden. I would never have purchased the doll in the first place, had I known about the message it would include. I’m very interested in finding out how that happened in the first place.
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