9/11 toys recalled
 

Company pulls toys depicting Sept. 11 attack

MIAMI (AP) - Small toys showing an airplane flying into the World Trade Center were packed inside more than 14,000 bags of candy and sent to small groceries around the country before being recalled.

Lisy Corp., the wholesaler that distributed the candy, said Friday that the toys were purchased in bulk from a Miami-based import company.

The toys came in an assortment purchased sight unseen from L&M Import in Miami and included the toys depicting the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the twin towers, whistles and other small toys, said Luis Pedron, Lisy's national sales manager. The invoice said the toy was a plastic swing set.

"I hate to blame the importer. He probably did not know what he was getting. He brings them in 40-foot containers. But whoever made it knew exactly what they were making," Pedron said.

Pedron said Lisy did not notice the small plastic figurines until two people complained, but there is no mistaking what the toys represent: At the bottom of each is the product number 9011.

"When we found out what happened, we recalled them immediately," said Pedron, who said the toys do not reflect the company's view. "I was offended by them."

The company's 100 distributors sent out the candy bags. Most are sold to small Hispanic and Mexican groceries, Pedron said. He estimated about 90 percent of the bags have been collected.

Anna Rodriguez, who bought a bag of the candy for her grandson, said she was stunned when she saw the toy.

"It makes me angry," she told television station WFTV. "I was offended because I couldn't believe that someone would give something like that to a kid."

Pedron said he is saving the toys to return to the distributor.

A woman who answered the telephone at L&M and refused to give her name said Friday she did not know anything about the toy.



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So why exactly would someone feel compelled to produce something like that?

Sick

I dare say there would be a market-place for such in some countries. Sad.

Now we have proof that the terrorists are trying to strike out at us and start a race war! Anarchy!

I saw this earlier myself, started to post it, and then was just so flummoxed by the realization that somebody actually produced this thing that I just stopped.

Unfrickinbelievable.

Ironically, these things won't make their creators very rich, as the presumed "stocking stuffer" sales in arab nations are sure to be a disappointment, seeing as how islamic fundamentalists don't believe in Santa Claus.

You know it would be nice to think that only Islamic fundamentalist would want a toy like that. Sadly, that is not true.

Yeah, I know... I was just trying to inject some cheap humor into the thread....

yep, the US of A. That's even worse... How can these people do things like that ?

the same people who tried to sell parts of the oklahoma trade center- some people are classless.

btw, as a note- this may be the first time I've ever seen Jon and the word "flummoxed" used in a sentence, and I daresay it might be the last... ;D

capitalism at its worst.

Hate to say it, but how long before some idiot puts one of these things gets put on ebay?

Sick.

Silly me. It's already happened!

Ebay Auction of 9/11 toy

He's getting some mighty fine cash for that. He sort of stretched the truth on that "only one left" thing, but why worry about that now?

I think it's cute that he named it "Twin Towers Terror Toy". He's a true patriot.

I truly despise this person.

I'm a little alarmed that they bought all these toys "sight unseen". Is that standard procedure for this industry?

And someone had to put them in the 14,000 bags and send them out - why did it take them getting to the stores before someone noticed this?

All this fuss and no one has said if the candy was any good.

cool.

Yay.. Item's been yanked from Ebay.

Bidding had been over $500.

Second Toy Found In Candy Appears To Depict Osama Bin Laden

MIAMI -- In Miami, a wholesaler has announced that his company will recall 14,000 bags of candy.

The bags contain a toy that looks like a plane flying into a building and, we found, a second toy that looks like Osama Bin Laden suspended between the two buildings.

Eyewitness News broke this story, but, for the first time, we had the chance to speak with a representative from the corporation that distributed the candy.

"Importers did not realize what they were buying. They were buying assortments of toys and they get to people like us trying to sell authentic Mexican candies. Nobody caught it and it went out into the stores," explains Lisy Corporation manager Luis Pardon.

The manager of Lisy Corporation says the candy was originally purchased sight unseen, but now he'll send back all he's collected.