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Playmobil Race Row: Is Plastic Pirate Ship Toy Racist?

An American mother has accused toy manufacturer Playmobil of racism, because one of the brand’s dark-skinned characters appears to be a slave.

The plastic figure comes as part of a pirate set, which Californian Ida Lockett’s five-year-old son received as a gift from his aunt.

When his mother had finished constructing the toy she was shocked to see that the darkest-skinned character had no shoes, tattered trousers and a neck shackle.

[Pic: Facebook/Aimee Norman] The boy’s aunt posted the above on Playmobil USA’s Facebook page

The outraged mum told CBS Sacramento that the neckpiece attachment proves the character is a slave.

“It’s definitely racist,” she said. “It told my son to put a slave cuff around the black character’s neck, and then to play with the toy.”

“You cannot have this specific accessory and call it anything else. The fact that you can Google it, look it up, say what it is—it’s a slave collar.”

The manufacturer said in it’s defence: ”If you look at the box, you can see that the pirate figure is clearly a crew member on the pirate ship and not a captive.

“The figure was meant to represent a pirate who was a former slave in a historical context. It was not our intention to offend anyone in anyway.”

Ms Lockett intends to return the now very much unwanted gift to the shop.

[PIC: Playmobil]