A 15-month-old boy opened his chocolate Kinder Surprise Egg in order to get to the toy inside. However, as soon as he did, his mother took one look and realized that her child had gotten a “racist” toy.
When it comes to children’s toys, most parents rely on strict regulations to ensure that the item they’re giving to their little ones is safe. However, what happens when one of these trinkets passes the safety inspection but not the test of racism? For one Aussie mom, this is apparently a major issue in the toy market that needs to be resolved.
After buying a Kinder Surprise Egg, which is a hollow chocolate egg containing a capsule with a toy inside, Kimberley handed the confection to her 15-month-old son Alexander. Once the toddler had gnawed through the chocolate shell to claim his prize, Kimberley says that it was what was inside the capsule that left her feeling sick.
Kimberley told parenting website Kidspot that her little boy opened his Kinder Surprise Egg to find a deeply “racist” toy inside. Although she explained that she initially laughed at the bauble out of shock, the concerned mom’s reaction soon turned to outrage when she perceived inherent bigotry behind the toy’s design.
According to Kimberley, the capsule contained a plastic egg character holding a set of three balloons, each one with the letter “K” stamped on it. It was then that Kimberley says she saw the message “KKK,” which stands for the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan organization.
“Initially we laughed in shock,” the mom-of-one teld Kidspot. “It was kind of like ‘are we seeing and reading this right?’”
Kimberley told the blog that she felt nauseated by the thought of her son playing with a toy that she believes is undeniably racist. As far as she’s concerned, the toy design simply couldn’t have slipped through multiple departments of the company unnoticed.
“As soon as you open the package the toy comes in two parts,” she says. “One is the egg and the other is the balloons with ‘KKK’ written on them. As soon as you see them – you notice it.”
Upset by the toy, Kimberley explained that there were other options that the company could’ve used to advertise its name. “It should have been just KS or KSCE,” which stands for Kinder Surprise Crème Egg, she suggested.
“This is a massive oversight that anyone could have seen,” Kimberley says. “It’s also hard to find something to say as the initials of Kinder Surprise aren’t ‘KKK.’”
Unable to let the incident go, Kimberley contacted the company with her concern. In a Facebook Messenger response, Kinder apologized and explained that the toy’s supposedly racist design came after a series of changes made in order to make the token more stable.
“We really are sorry for any offence caused due to the inference of how the three K’s read together on this toy,” the comany replied. “To offer some explanation of how this toy came to be, initially it was designed with one balloon with a ‘K’ on it. However, two more were added to provide a more robust structure. Please be assured that we had absolutely no intention to make any association with the acronym.”
The toy was meant to be a salute to Kinder’s 50th birthday. However, the tiny egg character ended up causing more of a stir than the company had intended. As such, Kinder explained that the toy had been discontinued and all left in stock were being withheld for deconstruction.
Although Kimberley was given a reasonable explanation and sincere apology from the company, she remains concerned that other children might have been negatively influenced by the toy’s markings.
“My son is 15 months old – so he doesn’t read but it would be easy for a kid who was old enough to read to ask what those initials meant,” the concerned mom said.
Kimberley’s distress over a children’s toy that, at least according to the company, had no racist undertones is evident of an easily offended culture. Not everything is racist. In fact, if you’re seeing racism everywhere you look, maybe the problem lies in your perception.
