This is em-bear-assing.
Build-A-Bear’s stuffed animals targeting “kidults” — with some dressed in bikinis and others wearing a Hugh Hefner-style robe while pouring champagne — has led some critics to slam the child-friendly company.
The St. Louis, Mo.-based toy company rolled out the risque accessories for their stuffed bears as part of a Valentine’s Day promotion.
The seemingly inappropriate attire also includes a black slip dress, satin robes and pajamas, leopard heart boxers and gold strap heels.
Another shirt reads the word “ZADDY” — a slang term for an attractive older man.
“Please excuse me whilst I be violently sick,” Alice Waterman-Hale, a London-based marketing strategist, wrote on her X social media page.
She told The Wall Street Journal she “wondered if they had been created just to upset people.”
Build-a-Bear CEO Sharon Price John insisted the adult accessories are to recognize the “evolution of what people want.”
“Build-A-Bear’s intention is always to be an upstanding, appropriate, guest-facing brand,” she told told the Wall Street Journal.
Founded in 1997, Build-A-Bear Workshop has become a “multigenerational” brand, according to John, with teens and adults accounting for about 40% of its sales.
The controversial accessories are part of a growing trend for a sagging toy industry that is increasingly focusing on “kidults” — grown-ups who are interested in toys for nostalgia, comfort or collecting, according to the Journal.
Build-A-Bear’s special collection is categorized in the “Bear Cave” section of the store’s website.
It asks users to pledge that they are over the age of 18 before clicking in to the site.
One South Carolina woman got creative and outfitted a bear with a bow tie, cuffs and heart-covered boxers to create her very own “stripper bear.”
“He may be a little devious,” Kaleanne Hearn told The Journal.
“He can be a stripper on the side. But he’s still cute.”
The adults-only collection also includes a “Devilishly Pink Teddy Bear” who is seen wearing a “You Turn Me On” shirt.
There’s also a “Buns” T-shirt which reads: “Don’t Want None Unless You’ve Got Buns Hun.”
A video Build-A-Bear posted to Instagram shows a stuffed toy called “Doctor Love Lion” dispensing romantic advice for guys so that they can “get more rizz” — slang for charisma.
“Doctor Love Lion” responds to a question which asks what it the best pickup line a man can use.
“Girl, are you a gazelle? Because you look like something I can sink my teeth into,” the expert said in the clip.
“See what I did there? You’re welcome,” “Doctor Love Lion” said.
Many Instagram users weren’t amused.
“Is this not for children???” one user wondered.
“Build-A-Bear, are you in heat?” asked another.
Another Instagram user observed: “I thought this was a kids friendly brand.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
