A mother has described a Playmobil pirate ship as “racist” for including a dark skinned character with a slave collar.
Ida Lockett told the manufacturer on Facebook it was “so sad to find a slave ship by Playmobil” after her son received the boat and characters as a present for his fifth birthday.
Ida Ida – Photos/Videos of Playmobil | Facebook
“You cannot have this specific accessory and call it anything else”, she told CBS news. “The fact that you can Google it, look it up, say what it is – it’s a slave collar.
“It’s definitely racist. It told my son to put a slave cuff around the black character’s neck and then to play with the toy.”
Ida Ida – Photos from Ida Ida’s post | Facebook
Playmobil said in a statement to The Washington Post that the toy was intended to portray life on a 17th-century pirate ship.
“If you look at the box, you can see that the pirate figure is clearly a crew member on the pirate ship and not a captive. The figure was meant to represent a pirate who was a former slave in a historical context. It was not our intention to offend anyone in anyway.”
Aimee Norman – Photos/Videos of Playmobil USA | Facebook
Aimee Norman who bought the play set for Lockett’s son said: “I am mortified to have recently bought your Pirate Ship set.
“When I was browsing your play sets for purchase, this was the only one that even had a black character and that’s precisely why I chose it for my nephew. I didn’t notice from the box exterior that the black characters were to be depicted in this offensive way. Who would think in the year 2015?”
She added: “#Slavery.is.not.a.game.Playmobil.”