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Black Tokyo broke this one and it has now garnered international press. A cell phone ad by E Mobile depicts a monkey in a suit deploring a crowd holding “Change” signs. BT says:
Am I crazy to think that the monkey is supposed to represent Barack Obama? Given the track record for companies in Japan that use monkeys and blacks or monkeys as blacks in advertisements…maybe not!
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It’s pretty clear now that the new site sockpoliticians.com is really just a Google Adwords scam trying to capitalize off of the popularity of the SockObama story. I had an email conversation with the original manufacturer who bailed on the project, Binkley Toys, and they told me they have nothing to do with this new site and their former customer the Lawson’s do not either.
In fact, the McCain doll supposedly available is actually a doll designed by Binkley for another customer. I hear they are actually a huge publishing firm who will actually crush anyone using that image. So for those who are sending any money using PayPal expecting a SockObama or SockMcCain doll, good luck with that.
I’m also having conversations with Binkley about something that might be pretty exciting for us Obama supporters and those who were outraged by the racist Obama monkey.
Stay tuned…
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from The Deseret News (via Joseph on IM and commenter Snowe). I give this piece of drivel to you in it’s entirety. It’s hilarious, really. I’m so glad Joe broke this story and started the pressure that would lead to their contract manufacturer refusing to make these racist dolls. Joe’s initial post was not always credited, but make no mistake this was a Plunderbund original. I’m really tempted to break this into pieces and comment on it, but It really does speak for itself.
We at TheSockObama Co. have some questions to pose. What’s really going on in America? In the good ol’ fashion spirit of entrepreneurialism ; free enterprise has been censored, and TheSockObama politically plush toy has been discriminated against in the marketplace of the United States of America.
Double standards appear to be a common thread here. It’s okay for there to be hundreds of thousands of Google sites containing references to our current president’s resemblance to a chimpanzee. However, it’s not okay to make that same association regarding our possible next president. Isn’t this the very definition of hypocrisy? We find this to be both obvious and curious in the same breath.
After seven days as an e-commerce merchant, we had to close our doors today at www.thesockobama.com. Sadly, we are currently issuing refunds to all of our wonderful new Customers around the globe. TheSockObama is no longer scheduled to go into mass production. Nor will his cast of politically plush friends be produced, including JohnnieMcSock, his fierce political competitor that we had planned to introduce next week. We are compelled to take this action, as a result of our designer/supplier conceding, seemingly due to the enormous pressure from opposers. Have the bullies won here?
Our first and last foray into the blogging world began and ended on Tuesday June 10th. In an amateurish, clumsy attempt at marketing a time-sensitive, politically plush toy online; we came upon some sort of an election-themed website that looked promising; and we blogged our new business with a sassy lure of plush prose. We didnit know there were rules to blogging. We know now.
There, the blogging dens of resistance quickly began their fury of emails. An electronic battery of fiery darts flowed swiftly but silently through the veins of technology. Feverish fingers frantically clicking coast to coast, crashing and burning our tragically naive – yet sparkling website. A steady stream of repetitive verbal eloquence graced our Customer service inbox with tasty tidbits like, eff-ewe and every other colorul expletive you could possibly imagine. We thought we had heard it all. Hey thanks. This is America, right?Having led a moderately quiet lifestyle until now; our social calendar suddenly filled up with vivid and creative death threats. And last we heard, a posse of bloggers from back east are on their way over to conduct n how did they phrase it, a good oli fashioned KKK house burning party at David & Elizabethis. Kinda exciting stuff, but this in America?
On Friday the Media swooped in. Love notes with call me from newspaper publications and television personalities were left at our door. We agreed to permit two local stations to share a bit of our initial reaction on the madness of it all. We were the top news story on both networks at 9:00pm and 10:00pm.. By the way, TheSockObama story preceded the shocking and untimely death of our well loved Tim Russert of NBC. What the heck does this say about the spiritual barometer of a proclaimed to be united people? Unfortunately, this is America.
The questions we still find perplexing are; is America really ready for change? With the number of Customers we’ve had to disappoint in our first week of business; are we saying it’s okay to take something out of the marketplace that other people want to buy? Are we now censoring one another’s liberty as Americans to freely purchase goods and services on our own terms? Is this the kind of America we want?
Before we close, please note that the creators of TheSockObama are not of the Mormon faith. Kindly refrain from unkind remarks about our neighbors and friends of the Mormon faith whom we love and hold dear.
We wish to thank all of our TheSockObama Co. Customers and supporters in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia. We hope to meet again soon in a new venue.
Sincerely yours,
TheSockObama Co.
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Just got a note from the company who was hired to prototype the sock obama doll (a story Joseph first broke here at PB). It appears Binkley Toys is taking the right step in not making the doll. Good on them! Full note is below:
A Statement
My name is Rob Bishop, I am the owner of Binkley Toys Inc. and this is my website.My company, Binkley Toys Inc. has not manufactured the SockObama in production. (more then one toy)
My company was involved in prototyping the SockObama doll as a “work for hire” manufacturer.
Before the publics reaction to The SockObama doll myself and my staff did not make the racist connection that has been made. Our job day in and day out is to make safe, high quality and fun toys. The idea of making a nostalgic sock monkey brought back fond memories of toys from the past.
After the publics reaction I personally was very surprised at that connection (yes, you can accuse me of being naive) but when viewing the toy again, I could see how people could make that connection. That is sad really but that is the way the world works.
An Update
The update is, that myself and Binkley Toys Inc. will not be proceeding with manufacturing the SockObama toy. As I wrote to several people over email, my company is not just about ‘dollars’ and Binkley Toys Inc. prides itself on it’s social responsibility. Again, we have not manufactured any quantity in production of this toy idea.An Apology
Through the past couple of days I was hoping to find the ‘mistake’ my company made and I believe the only mistake would have been to keep going. There was no ill will, or negative intent in helping to design this toy. To proceed in to manufacturing this toy and to cause harm would have been the
error. I personally apologize to anyone who found this toy idea offensive and I am sorry I did not make the negative connection myself.A THANK YOU
Thank you to everyone who emailed well thought out messages stating in a logical manner your displeasure with this toy. I tried to respond to each and everyone of you personally. Thank you for not sending vulgar messages on a first attempt to contact me. To those who decided that my company was guilty before your inquiry, well I wish you strength in your life.Thanks.
Rob Bishop
Binkley Toys Inc.
The statement is also posted at their website.
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