'Evil Stick' wand toy for toddlers reveals picture of a young girl slitting her wrists with knife

[snooper2]

all I can say is WTF

[Mnemosyne]

1. This story is beyond bizarre. And no one checked other wands? Smelly. nt

[snooper2]

4. yes and yes, it is true- (even has it's own snopes page now)

Not all of them have the girl, others have crappy zombies or anime pictures

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Unbelieveable! What has the world come to when toys are marketed as

'Evil sticks'?

[jberryhill]

15. Good old traditional toy marketing....

[GreatGazoo]

27. the gas mask is "genuine OCD" (?!)

Part of the "Monk" play set perhaps?

[Brickbat]

3. You get what you pay for.

Especially when what you pay for is an "Evil Stick."

[jberryhill]

8. Consider the complaints if it was insufficiently evil

Product lives up to its name. I don't see the problem.

OMG, I found something evil in an "Evil Stick"!

[hifiguy]

24. OK, "Consider the complaints if it was insufficiently evil" made

[ProfessorGAC]

33. What If It Was Sufficiently Evil For Me. . .

. . .but insufficiently evil for you? What a conundrum!

[jberryhill]

35. the objective standard would be that of the reasonable person of ordinary moral sensibility

There are, for example, legal standards based on whether something would shock the conscience of a reasonable observer.

[ProfessorGAC]

36. I Hope You're Joking

As i certainly was.

[jberryhill]

37. the best packaging claim lawsuit...

...was the one over the fact that Froot Loops do not actually contain fruit.

[ProfessorGAC]

38. But, Colors!

Next you're gonna tell me there's no fruit in Fruity Pebbles.

[jberryhill]

39. That one hasn't been tested. But Crunchberries are not actually made of berries....

http://lawvibe.com/froot-loops-not-made-of-real-fruit-the-cereal-lawsuits/

The court, Judge Morrison England, Jr., also pointed out that the plaintiff acknowledged in her opposition to the motion to dismiss that “close inspection of the box reveals that Crunchberries . . . are not really berries.” Plaintiff did not explain why she could not reasonably have figured this out at any point during the four years she alleged she bought Cap’n Crunch with Crunchberries in reliance on defendant’s fraud.

...

As at least two federal judges have previously held, use of the word “Froot” cannot reasonably be interpreted as suggesting the presence of real “fruit,” not least because “froot” is not real, and real fruit does not come in “loops.” See, e.g., Videtto v. Kellogg USA, 2009 WL 1439086 (E.D. Cal. 2009) (noting that the ring-shaped cereal “does not resemble any known fruit”); McKinnis v. Kellogg USA, 2007 WL 4766060 (C.D. Cal. 2007) (making a similar observation).

[ProfessorGAC]

43. That's Hilarious

Thanks for that find. Good one.

[deutsey]

5. WTF? is an understatement

I can't even wrap my head around there being a toy for toddlers called an Evil Stick.

But the demon girl cutting her wrist?

[jberryhill]

7. A Halloween prop for a bad witch

Meh.

"Evil Stick" Found To Be Evil

Truth in advertising, if you ask me.

[deutsey]

9. I think it was made by Mr. Mainway

http://vimeo.com/77732818

I'm particularly fond of "Johnny Human Torch."


Seriously, if it's a prop for a bad witch costume (which doesn't really compute for me, but I'll let it go), why put the picture of someone cutting their wrists in a toy for kids?

[jberryhill]

11. The idea seems to be....

that the image is illuminated and becomes visible through the reflective surface.

It's not an uncommon trope:









But you take that kind of a trope and run it through the mind of a Chinese plastic crap manufacturer, and this is what you get.

[deutsey]

13. I guess

If it didn't have the age range as 3 and up but maybe 13 and up, I wouldn't find it so mind boggling.

But like fictional Mainway said about the rifle he was selling as part of a Halloween costume (Hey, dere's no ammo!), we could say of this product: "Hey, dere's no razor blade!"

[jberryhill]

14. Asians must be convinced we will buy anything

Making toys for a culture one does not understand must be a real head scratcher.

These were some post 9/11 winners:





One of our more popular children's rhymes used to be about bubonic plague.

[deutsey]

19. Not to mention stories about witches fattening kids up on candy in order to eat them

Sure kept many of them from wandering off into the woods.

That's different from these kinds of products, imo. If there's a buck to be made (or a perceived buck to be made), there will be people who will seize on any opportunity to make it.

I worked for a publisher years ago that for the most part had a great reputation for quality niche publishing. One of the areas they were trying to tap was school security. After Columbine (and I mean, like, the victims probably weren't even buried yet), someone had the brilliant idea that the shootings were a great business opportunity for them to exploit. This person and the company marketers came up with a mail campaign that targeted school administrators for some book they had on school security (I worked in the health care area, so I wasn't involved in this, but I was among those saying this was a bad idea).

They sent out their marketing package while the proverbial iron was still hot...and it blew the fuck up in their faces. That campaign was universally condemned by administrators, who vowed they'd never buy anything from the company.

So, I guess you don't even have to be from another culture to make a tasteless faux pas as long as there's money to be made.

[Atman]

17. Just a minor point...it was Elliot MAIM-way. Get it?

Maimway? As in to MAIM.

[deutsey]

21. LOL

That's even funnier!

I saw it when it was aired live and never caught that, even though it's one of my favorite skits. Thanks for the clarification!

[Atman]

6. Uhm...that's why it was in the DOLLAR STORE.

Because the manufacturer couldn't sell it anywhere else. This isn't rocket science. Dollar stores sell worthless shit that their buyers find in odd job-lots, salvage, or stuff that otherwise couldn't be sold. SURPRISE! They were selling a horrible piece of crap Chinese toy. Color me shocked...not.

[WillowTree]

10. Doesn't get much sicker than that. Geez!

[jberryhill]

16. Sure it does

[hifiguy]

26. Last chanceto send your dollar to

Blackmail
Behind the pipes
Third Washroom Along
Victoria Station, London

[hunter]

12. Message from a slave worker who made it?

Reworked Halloween toy from someone who has no clue?

Lot's of things can go wrong when rural people entirely new to factory work are making incomprehensible products for U.S. Americans.

But jberryhill, post 11 above, probably has it right. Translating English to Chinese and back frequently causes problems.

[jberryhill]

23. This one is epic

"Well, they seem to like God, Jesus and space robots over there. Let's try this...."

[Orrex]

42. I could totally worship God*Jesus*Robot.

[Humanist_Activist]

18. Honestly, the name of the toy sounds like it could be Engrish to me...

possibly a cheap toy manufacturer who couldn't hire a decent translator.

[jberryhill]

22. Engrish toys are the best

[Humanist_Activist]

28. Yeah, I could see how the wand could have had a name like witch's wand...

and they just basically put in the first word they could for "witch" that came up on some type of search. Or some other confusion like that, no excuse for the picture though.

[jberryhill]

30. You gotta wonder how they got the picture

Google image search for, what?

[Humanist_Activist]

31. Don't know, it could be an example of engrish in, engrish out...

Also, they could be confused by what is culturally acceptable here by looking up Halloween/Scary stuff from America, it goes from incredibly sexy to incredibly disturbing, usually in the same search.

[Scootaloo]

29. "Blandness Girl" is pretty damn accurate, though.

[RedCappedBandit]

40. blandness girl

bahahahaha

[herding cats]

20. Those bootleg Cardcaptor Sakura 'Evil Stick' toys are now sold out and being resold on Ebay

Some of the prices are totally insane on Ebay for those things.

They also have the EVIL STICK graphic dye sublimation TEE up now. So you can "take the curse with you wherever you go!"

[jberryhill]

25. On the internet, anything is possible

Good Lord... it's like a cultural mixmaster....

[GreatGazoo]

32. just wait until THIS lady gets wind of that...

Also, Snopes has a new entry for the evil stick -- verdict: True

http://www.snopes.com/photos/odd/evilstick.asp

[jberryhill]

34. Wow

We are all doomed.

[RedCappedBandit]

41. no response other than 'wtf?' nt