Global toy brand Lego has had some explaining to do over the description of one of its new toys.
The product, called Turg and part of the company’s Mixels line, is a character with a long tongue and a single eye. Lego described the toy on its website as an “experiment gone wrong.” It continued: “Part frog, part chicken, part back-of-the-bus window-licker, this Mixel has the longest tongue of them all.”
That description has received strong criticism from mental health advocates, according to a BBC report. The news organization said mental health charity leaders were appalled at the offensive phrase (a “window-licker” is a derogatory term for a person with mental disability).
“It is unacceptable that a toy company like Lego have used a term that offends people with a disability such as this, especially as the toy is aimed at children,” a representative from charity Mencap told the BBC. “I have a learning disability and I know that it makes me feel different.”
In a statement to the publication, Fiona Wright, Lego’s vice president for the U.K. And Ireland, said:
Lego Mixels’ aim is to inspire creativity using quirky fictional characters to help children express their imaginations. We have very high expectations of our products. This also includes the text we use to describe them towards consumers. We are sorry that wording which could be considered offensive has been used, as this has not been our intention at all. As an immediate result of the input we have received, the product description for the Mixels character Turg has been changed on our website Lego.com. We have looked at our processes to make sure this does not happen again.
Coins2Day has reached out to Lego for further comment.
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