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Saturday, January 22, 2005

And the "What Were They Thinking" Award for Cluelessness in Toy Manufacture goes to...
Posted by Jill | 2:43 PM

...the Vermont Teddy Bear company, of all things. You know, those cute little bears who come in varieties for all occasions, so you can keep buying them in perpetuity? Those cute little bears that bring to mind quaint people hand-sewing them while clad in L.L. Bean shetland sweaters? Yeah, THAT Vermont Teddy Bear Company.

Well, it seems that the company has been selling a new Valentine's Day-themed "Crazy for You" bear -- clad in a straitjacket. It comes with commitment papers.

As might be expected, supporters and opponents of the plush ursine have already weighed in, with advocates for the mentally ill saying that the bear "trivializes a traumatic experience and reinforces a stereotype of mentally ill people as violent"; and supporters of the bear saying, "It's a lovely, huggy little bear...who cares what it's wearing?"

As someone who both works in a mental health research facility AND also enjoys a bit of snarky humor now and then, I'm afraid I have to come down with the anti's on this one. Yes, when you work where I do, the customary having-a-stressful-day jokes about rubber rooms have a somewhat different resonance than they do in, say, a bank. But frankly, couldn't they just do the "crazy for you" theme with something other than a device that might be frightening to children? How about rolling eyes, or a goofy face, or any of the other ways this concept has been conveyed over time? As one mother of a son who has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals said to the New York Times for their article on the subject, "You wouldn't have a bear in a wheelchair saying, 'I'm rolling over the hill in love with you.". And one Republican state representative pointed out, "If Vermont Teddy Bear had produced a bear with a noose around its neck saying, 'I'd love to hang with you,' and call it a Ku Klux Klan teddy bear, the response would be overwhelming disgust and horror."

Sure, there are those who scream "Political Correctness!" and think it should all be taken in good fun...except that mental illness isn't good fun, any more than lynching is, as was pointed out in the "Ku Klux Klan" example. People with mental illness and their families are real people, with real feelings. They're not clowns put on earth for the amusement of others. And the fact of the matter is that the idea of a bear in a straitjacket just isn't funny, and it sure as hell isn't cute.

I see a photo of a teddybear in a straitjacket and all I want to do is set it free.
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