The dreaded Golliwog again



A prominent Australian toy wholesaler says it is likely to discontinue supply of one of its most controversial dolls – the golliwog.

Golliwogs have continued to be sold in Australian shops despite them being widely seen as offensive in other western countries.

National sales manager for soft toy wholesaler Elka, Jan Johnco, said while the black-faced, red lipped dolls are an “innocent toy”, golliwogs offend people because they “don’t want to hear the truth about them”.

Ms Johnco noted that at one stage there were probably 30 suppliers at toy trade fairs selling the dolls, but now they have “run their time”.

“Now ‘gollies’ were in 30-odd years ago, and then they ran their cycle, I guess kind of like the yo-yo. The yo-yo might come back and it might never come back,” she said.

Golliwogs are still for sale around Australia, particularly in individual regional stores, but will be harder to find once Elka stops distributing them.

The Royal Adelaide Show last year was forced to apologise after complaints were received over the golliwog entries in the handicraft competition.

One regional NSW newsagent who spoke on the condition of anonymity has a large golliwog display in his shop window, but he worries increased attention could lead to vigilante action against his store.

“I could end up with a brick through the window by an idiot,” he said.

The retailer maintains that while one person a month walks into his shop to complain about the storefront, he sells up to five golliwogs a week.

“A lot of the people that buy them are elderly people because they remember them at their time. That’s what their mothers and grandmothers used to knit them.”

He believes people who rally against their sale are trying to alter Australia’s past.

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They are often made as a craft item so will not vanish.  They are fairly easy to make as a soft toy and many family-oriented women like making soft toys for children, including gollies