Anyone else a bit creeped out by the new Elmo that hugs?

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I wouldnt think much about it and would actually think it was cute for small kids if not for the controversy with the man who played Elmo for years.

In the prior 6 months or so, this man has been charged with having inappropriate relations with under aged boys.

Now this new Elmo hugs the kid, tells them to play games like horsey and also when it hugs tight, it says "I love you". All I can picture when I see this add is the man and the charges against him. I just think its in poor taste to have Elmo hugging kids when that was pretty much part of what this guy did!
 

1905

Well-Known Member
Now that you put it that way.....gross. Enough people will buy it anyway to make it a profitable toy, everyone will make their money. That's the bottom line unfortunately.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
I can completely agree that I ould have a real problem giving this as a gift and likely would not be super thrilled if my kids got one. I would have been lucky if mine were little enough to play with them because Jess has always strongly disliked Elmo and for quite a while we did not have any of them at home because she would cry and/or run away if she saw one (around age 2-3) and after that she just refused to be around one. The boys didn't care one way or the other, so it would be easy for us. by the way, Jess never met a lifesize Elmo, she just always had that sort of reaction and she was NOT abused by someone with an Elmo toy. She has what I think are strange dislikes of certain kids' characters (she is creeped out by that dinosaur or whatever from the Wiggles (Dorothy is the name, I think) also. And lets' not start with clowns. (Oh, the drama! LOL!)

The company had these in production and on the way to store shelves long before the scandal went public, so to refuse to sell the item could be a huge financial blow and result in millions of lost jobs and a HUGE black market price for the item. Even so, I would NOT buy one.

this is, for me. a similar problem to selling or buying books by the Frugal Gourmet, Jeff Smith. There was a scandal because he was accused of abusing his apprentice chefs. While charges were dropped by the prosecutor, one of the apprentices was a close friend to a cousin and the abuse was real. I had several of his books and liked his show. I got rid of the books and have been known to discourage others from purchasing his books in used bookstores.

What to do if you are given a doll for one of the grands who is at your home for long periods of time? Say thank you politely and then make it disappear later. Personally? i would make it have an 'accident' and need to be pitched (syrup spilled that can't be washed off?) and replaced with a different toy. I would not explain the problem to a child of the age to play with one of these toys (chronological age or developmental age). I have done that with more than a few well meaning Frugal Gourmet cookbooks.
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
I have NEVER liked Elmo. The Tickle Me Elmo was popular when I worked retail and, like the Furby, when its battery got low it would giggle maniacally on a random basis. When you're in a darkened warehouse type store... Ugh.

Fortunately Rose likes Cookie Monster and Grover. She's not fond of Elmo. Though Big Bird and Abby Cadabby, Bert and Ernie are friends...
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
I have never heard the story of the inappropriate man who played Elmo. How terrible! difficult child used to be obsessed with Elmo. We used to watch Sesame Street every day together and she would always wait in impatient anticipation till Elmo's world came on at the end of the show. Her paternal grandmother got her a tickle me Elmo for Christmas when she was two. She refused to leave the house without it. Would seriously tantrum if we forgot it and we were driving in the car somewhere. We still have her Elmo sitting in our house to this day cause she refuses to get rid of it. Now I am going to have creepy thoughts every time I see the darn thing!
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I have to laugh at the Tickle Me Elmo tails.

When those came out my boys were, well, older kids. I think Jamie was 13. However, my Jamie is quite the strange kinda guy and he became obsessed over having one! He begged for it for Xmas. Well, the crowds were nuts for that thing...just like when the first Cabbage Patch dolls came out...and I wasnt going to fight some mother to snatch the thing out of her hands when she probably had a smaller child. Instead they had some smaller Tickle Me Cookie Monster's and I bought him one of those. He was thrilled! That thing stayed around the house for years until one day our dog who loved to mother stuffed animals got a hold of it and the thing started to shake and laugh...lol. Scared the dog to death and she tore it up. I dont think I will ever forget that sight.

Now when Monkey was a baby/toddler she loved Elmo and we got an original Tickle Me Elmo that my dad passed down to us that they had bought for my step-mom's grandkids when they came to their house. They were all well past baby toys days at that point. She also got an Elmo that we could program on the computer and it talked to her with her name, favorite foods and such. She also had a telephone that was programmed the same way. Of course, she is now well past that and the Mouse is into Minnie Mouse.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
I have this deep and abiding hatred of noisy toys. I can NOT stand them. Part of this is my own sensory issues going nuts at some of the noises, of course. The other part is that the decibel level is tested 12 to 18 inches away from the toy even for infant toys, but I have yet to see a child keep most toys that far away while playing. This can do permanent damage to your hearing but no one would know because the hearing loss doesn't show up for years after the damage is done.

Of course we had noisy toys, I just hated them. Wiz didn't know that batteries could be replaced until he was about five because I told my kids the toy was broken and couldn't be fixed rather than replacing the batteries. Then my dad not only changed batteries on one toy, he taught my 2 or 3 yo daughter how to use a screwdriver to replace the batteries herself! I wanted to strangle him, lol!

One year the talking Barney was HUGE. Supposedly it was really hard to find in some areas. My folks got Jess one, a friend got her one, and my inlaws shipped one to her. When the box from my inlaws came, it was talking. Inside the box. NOTHING was touching the part you squeezed to make it talk. father in law told us it started talking after the box was taped, kept talking as they took it to the post office, and they had to open it to prove it was a toy and because it wouldn't stop. The mailman who delivered it used one of his breaks to take it to us early in his route because it talked constantly and was giving him the creeps. There were notes on the box from all the people who heard it talking on the four day trip to us. It talked all night long at our house, and all the way to the Walmart where I returned it.

The company said it was impossible because the batteries would only provide six hours of continuous talking IF it talked nonstop, which it could not do because you had to squeeze the hand each time you wanted to hear a short phrase. I later heard that the Walmart manager took it out and threw it away because it was making everyone uncomfortable because it never stopped!

I am so glad that we don't have to deal with many noisy toys any more!
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
I have NEVER liked the ELMO toys. Any of them. Can't say I even think he's cute either for that matter......... a case of trying too hard to be cute and it turns me totally off him.
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
He's too darned SQUEAKY for me. Big Bird is whiny enough... I can't handle a toddler that's perpetually THAT annoying... I don't much like Abby Cadabby either. Probably because these two didn't exist when I watched Sesame Street...

CB, Belle was attached to her Elmo, too. AND her Barney. The ONLY thing I like about Barney is that was my Grandpa's first name.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I am probably very strange but I have hated cartoons all my life. Even as a child I wouldnt watch many Saturday morning cartoons. The exception was HR Pufnstuf because the live boy who played on it was so cute and he actually had a record out. His name was Jack Wild and I adored him second only to David Cassidy.

David Cassidy was my first love and my dad actually took me to see him in concert when I was 8. I have to give my dad props for being willing to go when there were thousands of little girls screaming while he sang...lol. My dad would have been in his mid 40's at that time. It had to be awful for him but I loved him for it. To be honest, I still love David Cassidy today...lol.
 
Top