• Could the (sad) reality of health measures linked to Covid-19 have even been found in certain toys?

  • This is what many Internet users deplore at the sight of a photo showing an equipped Barbie and an advertising spot for a Nenuco doll sold with a variety of sanitary products (mask, test, thermometer).

  • If the second doll is indeed marketed by the Spanish manufacturer Famosa, the "Pandemic Barbie" is an artistic creation, unrelated to the iconic brand of Mattel.

"The Barbie pandemic with mask and hydroalcoholic gel.

Sadness… ”,“ The toy industry is adapting to the times, a symptom of the neurosis that is devouring our time: this unhealthy obsession with disease, cultivated to excess even among the youngest ”… On Twitter , a photo and a video supposed to show dolls for children whose paraphernalia resonates with the Covid-19 epidemic have aroused strong reactions in recent days.

The Barbie pandemic with mask and hydro alcoholic gel.

Sadness ... 😭 pic.twitter.com/EtLsClIIiS

- 🔻 I still had to know it 🔻 (@AmarilloLeones) October 9, 2021

While the first shows a Barbie wearing a fabric mask, and equipped with hydroalcoholic gel like toilet paper, the 15-second sequence, for its part, boasts (in Spanish) the outfit of a Nenuco doll: laser thermometer, test saliva, bandage, syringe, colored mask ...

The toy industry is adapting to the times, a symptom of the neurosis that is devouring our time: this unhealthy obsession with disease, cultivated to excess even among the youngest.



Let's heal it today, stop maintaining it.

pic.twitter.com/xlo97s1uIw

- Childhood & Freedoms (@EnfanceLibertes) October 10, 2021

If the Nenuco doll is well marketed, the "Barbie Covid-19" has on the other hand nothing official since it does not emanate from its manufacturer, Mattel.

FAKE OFF

The appearance of this singular Barbie on social networks is also nothing new: it dates back to April 2020, when Julene Jorgensen, an American designer, had posted it on her Facebook account in the middle of the period. containment.

“This is Pandemic Barbie.

[…] Inspired by the Mattel brand but without any affiliation.

It is simply a personal artistic project ”, explained its creator at the time… which did not prevent this photo from going viral and being taken for a Barbie marketed by Mattel, as reported by our colleagues. by LCI.

On the other hand, the company has indeed created a Barbie bearing the image of Sarah Gilbert, co-creator of the AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19.

"Nenuco, are you sick?

», A doll well and truly marketed

On the other hand, the Nenuco doll visible in the video is commercially available, in particular on several online sales sites, in France and in Italy.

However, the product does not make the slightest reference to Covid-19, like previous models of the doll inviting children to check their health.

Entitled "Nenuco, are you sick?"

", This toy from the Spanish company Famosa encourages children to check if the infant" has a fever "and to treat it using the many" accessories included "including a vaccination record.

On the manufacturer's website, the official description of this "Nenuco, are you sick?"

»Contains the advertising video taken and criticized on Twitter - posted on the Famosa channel on October 14, 2021. Contacted by

20 Minutes

, the Famosa group had not responded to our requests before the publication of the article.

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