Typically, children's toys tend to avoid topics such as drug abuse or depression, but not always, which is a lesson that Walmart Canada is learning the hard way.
A toy cactus being sold on Walmart's website as a teaching tool has been removed from the retail giant's roster after reports that the item, which sings in English, Spanish and Polish, featured inappropriate language.
According to CTV News, Brampton grandmother Ania Tanner, who is Polish, discovered the cactus' shocking vocabulary after purchasing it for her 15-month-old granddaughter and was horrified by what she heard.
"It just so happens that I am Polish, and when I started to listen to the songs and I heard the words, I was in shock. I thought, what is this some kind of joke?" Tanner told CTV News.
"It's about taking five grams of cocaine and being alone … It's a very depressing song," she added.
The song being used is by Polish rapper Cypis, who posted about a related scandal connected to the toy on social media back in July 2021. According to reports, the rapper said he had no prior knowledge of his music being used and planned to take legal action against the manufacturer.
Narcity reached out to Walmart for comment on the issue and received the following response:
"We take customer concerns of this nature seriously. These items are sold by a third-party seller on our marketplace website. We are removing the items while we look into this complaint further."