Rapid City stores carry controversial doll

Cuddle and Coo doll removed from Mitchell shelves

By Jeremy Fugleberg, Journal staff | Thursday, November 13, 2008

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It's a big surprise from such a small doll. Although its manufacturer denies that the toy says, "Islam is the light," the doll -- available in Rapid City -- has been removed from shelves in three Mitchell stores.

In Mitchell, LaNita Gates and her mother, Rose Gates, say the phrase is one of several that emanate from the Fisher-Price Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Cuddle and Coo Doll made by Mattel.

"I heard about the dolls through the radio, and I was appalled that this could be going on in this country," LaNita Gates, 46, said.

After hearing the radio report, the women asked Mitchell store managers to take the dolls off the shelves. A check by the local newspaper showed the toys were no longer sold in the town's Shopko, Wal-Mart and Kmart.

LaNita and Rose Gates said they were satisfied with the Mitchell stores' action.

"There are enough Christian people in town that they don't want their children to be taught that 'Islam is the light,'" LaNita Gates said.

Rose Gates said, "Most of us that are Christians know that Jesus is the light."

The Journal showed the doll to several Rapid City residents who weren't told about the alleged phrase. They said they could hear the baby say "mama," but none detected a phrase about Islam.

The toy, made in China, sports a $18-$22 price tag. The dolls repeat recorded sounds when an inner sensor detects motion in front of the doll; it includes a pacifier and bottle, which can quiet the baby's talking.

Several Rapid City stores sell the doll, but it isn't on Wal-Mart shelves. Managers at Target and Shopko in Rapid City said they had heard nothing about the controversy. Managers at Wal-Mart and Toys "R" Us referred questions to their corporate offices.

Chris Schaden, senior vice president of sales at Mattel, said last month that the company did a thorough investigation and found that "if told to listen for a particular phrase, you may hear something similar due to the power of suggestion."

Kmart and Wal-Mart corporate officials issued statements, but a Shopko corporate executive refused to comment.

"Some stores have made the decision to pull it (the dolls)," Anna Taylor, corporate spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, said. "Wal-Mart, as a company, has not withdrawn the dolls, but some local stores have independently chosen to remove them."

Speaking for Kmart, Kimberly Freely corporate spokeswoman said the company had not pulled the dolls and only received a handful of complaints.

"If customers are unsatisfied with the doll, they can return it for a full refund, per Kmart's return policy," she said.

The Mitchell women joined a monthlong chorus of complaints in the U.S. as parents and ministers expressed their concern about the dolls.

First reported by an Owasso, Okla., newspaper in early October, the "Islam is the light" claim was quickly debunked by the manufacturer and fact-checking Web sites.

But in following weeks, the issue popped up again at various other sites including California, Wisconsin and Georgia, as customers complained, and stores responded by pulling the toy from shelves.

"The Little Mommy Cuddle 'n Coo dolls feature realistic baby sounds including cooing, giggling, and baby babble with no real sentence structure," Mattel said in a prepared release. "The only scripted word the doll says is 'mama.' There is a sound that may resemble something close to the world 'night,' 'right,' or 'light.'"

The company blamed the confusion on computer file compression used to store the sounds and the toy's inexpensive toy speaker.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact Jeremy Fugleberg at 394-8421 or by e-mail at jeremyfugleberg@rapidcityjournal.com