Amazon is selling a racist fancy dress costume.
Amazon is selling what can only be described as a racist fancy dress costume.
Tucked away in the website’s UK fancy dress section is advertised an ‘Adult Golly Fancy Dress Costume’, priced at £39.99. And yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like – an adult costume that replicates the small dolls that are a must-have soft toy for every frothing bigot.
Unsuprisingly, Amazon’s customers don’t seem too impressed by what they’ve stumbled across.
Amazon has previously got into trouble for selling t-shirts emblazoned with the slogans such as ‘keep calm and rape’ and ‘keep calm and hit her’. The company has also been accused of racism for selling a mask of Kenyan politician Raila Odinga, leader of the opposition Coalition for Reforms and Democracy.
The site certainly caters well for your average racist, and wouldn’t be out of place in a BNP shop.
‘Golly’ dolls were created based on crude stereotypes of black people, and the term ‘Golliwog’ was often shouted at black people as a term of racial abuse. In Enid Blyton’s book, Here Comes Noddy Again, a Golly character asks the hero for help but ends up stealing his car. An excerpt from her book, The Three Golliwogs, is fairly typical:
‘Once the three bold Golliwogs, Golly, Woggie, and N**ger, decided to go for a walk to Bumble-Bee Common. Golly wasn’t quite ready so Woggie and N**ger said they would start off without him, and Golly would catch them up as soon as he could. So off went Woggie and N**ger, arm-in-arm, singing merrily their favourite song – which, as you may guess, was Ten Little N**ger Boys.’
Worth remembering the next time somebody claims the dolls are ‘just a bit of harmless fun’.
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers and to make the biggest impact we can in the next general election, we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That's why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward's work.
We still need another 124 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.
9 Responses to “Amazon is selling a racist ‘golly’ costume”
Sparky
Is this really the most compelling story that greated you when you logged on this morning?
Sparky
I wonder whether the only reason you highlight this story is because Amazon is selling it, and Amazon, as any Lefty worth his salt knows, is an Evil American Capitalist Corporation that Doesn’t Pay Enough Tax. So if you can create some subtext that they also Make Money Selling Racist Toys! then all the better. That is what is really behind the story.
I’m intrigued about where people on this site buy their books. Presumably they hold their Left wing principles with such conviction that they are happy to pay up to 50% more for their books at Waterstones. Oh, but wait, Waterstones is owned by A&NN Capital Fund Management, owned by a Russian billionairre. Oh dear.
tangentreality
As I’m sure you know, Amazon doesn’t just act as a seller, but as a marketplace for other organisations to sell their products. And, quelle surprise, this is one such example – Amazon aren’t actually selling it, another company is. This reporting is disingenuous at best, and lying at worst.
Facilitating the sale of a product does not necessarily mean agreeing with any political message that the Professionally Aggrieved can read into it. Yes, the costume is in pretty bad taste – I can’t imagine many people are actually buying it. But rather than being offended on someone else’s behalf and publishing a misleading article, why don’t you just try:
a) Informing Amazon about the listing, after which they’d likely take it down. I’m guessing it breaches their terms and conditions of use for the Marketplace feature;
b) NOT BUYING IT.
swatnan
If Amazon has any policy guidelines then it has breached them.
Amazon should apologise and check this kind of thing does not happen again.
Neil Posnett
It’s a frickin golliwog costume for god sake, what’s the big issue, get a life for f..k sake, Jesus Christ