Candidate dolls become headache for Walgreens

International Herald Tribune ^ | 10/3/2008

[markomalley]

Election-year novelty dolls of Barack Obama, John McCain and Hillary Clinton have been ordered off the shelves of Walgreen drugstores nationwide because of customer complaints about the battery-operated figures.

The 13.5-inch(34.3-centimeter)-tall dolls moved as they sang parodies and recited messages that were not approved by the presidential candidates.

Walgreen Co. spokeswoman Tiffani Bruce told The Grand Rapids Press for a story published Friday that some customers were offended by what the dolls said or did.

The Clinton figure referred to itself as a "broad" in one song parody.

The Obama doll was sold in a box that proclaimed, "The senator from Illinois gets down and funky!"

[re_tail20]

We had them at our store

The Obama doll sang to the tune of “Oh, Susanna”. But there were so many words to it, I don’t remember it

Here’s a youtube link, though

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5gNG6SA5ns

The Hillary doll sang to the tune of “My Country, tis of thee”

My name is Hillary
First Broad of Liberty
Of me I sing

Land where my husband lied
and I stood right by his side
Now it’s my time to shine
Let freedom ring

The McCain doll sang to the tune of “When Johnny comes marching home again”

When Johnny goes running for President, hurrah, hurrah
When Johnny goes running for President, hurrah, hurrah

When the votes are all in and the money’s all spent
I’m going to be your next President
and we’ll all be marching down to the old White House

These dolls were made during the primary campaign, and before the Vice President selections, so there were no Biden or Palin dolls at all

[syriacus]

Here's another article. It has videos of each doll performing.

Some say Walgreens' candidate Obama, McCain, Clinton dolls not so cute

"But it also created some situations where one of the figures was more popular than the other and people wondered if we were endorsing a candidate." Bruce said stores in Illinois quickly sold out of Obama figures, leaving shoppers to find shelves of McCains and Clintons, thinking the drugstore chain was attempting to steer voters.

McCain figures were scarce in Arizona, she added.

"The stores tried to keep a balance on the shelves, but it became impossible when there was demand for one candidate more than another," she said.

[syriacus]

Now they are collectors items....

You're right. SENATOR BARACK OBAMA DOLL on eBay