Recently Toys R Us made a risky move and put Breaking Bad dolls on their shelves. The dolls, crafted after Walter White, the main character of the AMC drama is a high school chemistry teacher turned meth dealer, as well as his assistant Jesse Pinkman. Among the dolls, accessories include, pistols bags of money as well as crystal meth.
Breaking Bad is rated M for mature so how did these dolls make it into a child’s toy store?
Fort Myers Florida mom, Susan Schrivjer was outraged by the decision to put the dolls out for production. She has started a petition on Change.org (Click the link to support), demanding that Toys R Us remove the inappropriate dolls from store shelves. 8,000 parents and concerned citizens have signed the petition, agreeing to the above statement.
“While the show may be compelling viewing for adults, its violent content and celebration of the drug trade make this collection unsuitable to be sold alongside Barbie dolls and Disney characters,” she wrote.
Toys R Us has released this statement addressing the petition, “Let’s just say, the action figures have taken an indefinite sabbatical.”
The dolls were kept in the adult section of the store where other action figures for mature ages are found. Daniel Pickett of Manhattan Beach has also released a petition on Change.org (click link to support) in contrast to Schrivjer.
“I’m a parent of a school aged child myself, but I’m an informed, responsible parent and I closely monitor the toys, TV, music, movies and games that my daughter sees,” Pickett wrote. “That’s my job, and I take it seriously. But I also like toys/action figures and I want 3-D representations of characters from my favorite properties and I love being able to walk into a store and find them.”
Pickett’s petition has 3,000 signatures.
But what does Walter White, actor Bryan Cranston has to say about all this? Cranston took to Twitter to share his thoughts.
“Florida mom petitions against Toys ‘R Us over Breaking Bad action figures.” I’m so mad, I’m burning my Florida Mom action figure in protest
— Bryan Cranston (@BryanCranston) October 20, 2014
Toys R Us puts Breaking Bad toys on ‘indefinite sabbatical.’ Word on the street is that they were sent to Belize. Nicely played Florida Mom.
— Bryan Cranston (@BryanCranston) October 22, 2014
Photo via Toys R Us
