A Unfortunate Broken Teletubby Statue Incident - What Would You Have Done?
This slice of toy-related news has been getting some eyeballs and comments on the TOYSREVIL Facebook, as have it making the rounds online too... or rather it has been since the weekend, and I am late to the party AGAIN! But it does bring up interesting aspects to consider, IMHO....
TL;DR: A 1.8 meter tall TELETUBBIES figure ("Laa~Laa") was on-display inside toy-store KK PLUS (Langham Place, Mong Kok, Kowloon Hong Kong), and where a kid accidentally knocked it over ... figure broke into bits and the parents subsequently forking out HKD$33,600 (approx. US$4,280 / SG$5,869) for it - discounted after the original price of HKD$52,800 (approx US$6,727 / SG$9,223). Seen here are images of what had been posted and circulating online (Images here via @babyclan).
What happened was the dad had gone out of the shop to take a call, when the boy knocked against it. Coming back in, he saw his boy staring at the broken sculpt. The staff told the dad the boy knocked it over and charged the dad for the item (at a discounted price). It was apparently only later when he saw a video posted online that perhaps the boy might have been wrongly accused by the staff of the toy store.
I don't think the boy (Dad and Mum brought visited the store with their two sons) would've had it any easy once he got home tho...
It was reported that KKP PLUS had issued a statement following the weekend incident, that the statue has been on display for some time but with no incident (paraphrased), until this.
Netizens were in a uproar, accusing the store of "scamming" the man, and blaming it on the lack of precaution to cordoning off the figure. And at the same time folks call on parents to keep a watchful eye over their children.
Said post has since been deleted, with a new statement that they'll review their in-store practices, and that any item over a meter tall has been removed from display. According to the SCMP-video posted above, the store has since refunded the dad's payment for the item.
(The above incident mentioned were based off reports on timesnownews.com and hongkongfp.com, where you can read more about the incident).
What would YOU have done, if you were the father in that scenario?
What would you have done if this happened in YOUR toy-store?
What would you have done if that was YOUR sculpture?
I wondered WHERE the footage came from...? Was it a internal store security footage? Would a subsequent further investigation have led to uncovering this footage? Let me know your thought and opinions in this blogpost's comments section, or via my socials.
These are some select comments on my socials thus far:
"For me the shop/show should have insurance for this type of accident. They should cover at least 50% of the retail price to the artist and the parents are not responsible." shared Richard Page of @umetoys on Twitter, and added; "...they should make sure they have insurance to compensate the artist."
"The statue should have been secured to the floor or a stand", shared Adrian DesGeorges (on Facebook).
"Irresponsible to display like that", shared @jimmy_yu (on Facebook)
On the other hand, imagine if the figure had fallen ON the child instead, and injuring him, Would his parents still be requested to pay for the sculpture? Or would the parents sue the store instead for negligence in displaying the figure without adequate cordoning it off? Imagine if that child was YOURS.
I am reminded about the times when I pound the narrow alleys of toy stores and packed-with-human-traffic toycons, fearful of my backpack and thickset waist be pushed against or knocked against anything on display... or what of someone crushes my backpack holding a fragile resin toy within? It's one thing when grownassmen cause a ruckus, but a young kid who either accidentally causes a situation - regardless if he/she runs rampant knocking over things - because that is what most adults would assume, no?
The Teletubbies figure is an upsized version of these TELETUBBIES SUPER STAR polystone figures from POP SUNDAY I'd featured back in 2021.... I wonder what the larger sculpts were made of, to shatter as such though...?
