The fear tactics that have been used to scare adults into buying into the theory of global warming are one thing, but scaring small childern is taking it too far. And that's exactly what Build-A-Bear is doing.
You're all familiar with Build-A-Bear. They're everywhere. My children have been there. Yours probably have too. My children will never go there again, and here's why.
If you visit Build-A-Bearville.com you will see an interactive game that your children can play while visiting the site. It looks innocent enough on its surface. But when you child logs on he or she will take a virtual train ride to the North Pole, where they will be given a dire warning from Sanat Claus himself: Christmas may be cancelled this year due to global warming.
Shocking, isn't it? I am sick and tired of left-wingers and their fear mongering, but more and more lately we are seeing them target the most impressionable of all, our very young children. It has to stop, and you can stop it. Refuse to do business with any company that stoops to such deplorable means in order to push a political agenda.
Here is some of the dialogue in the video:
Girl Elf: Santa, it’s gone!
Papa Elf: It’s gone, It’s gone!
Santa: What’s gone?
Girl Elf: Tell ‘em, Dad!
Papa Elf: The North Peak.
Santa: A mountain? A mountain’s gone? How is that possible?
Ella the polar bear: Santa, sir, that’s why I’m here. That’s why we’re here. The ice is melting!
Santa: Yes, my dear, we know, the climate is changing. There’s bound to be a little melting.
Ella: It’s worse than that, Santa, a lot worse! At the rate it’s melting, the North Pole will be gone by Christmas!”
Santa: My, my…all of this gone by next Christmas? I don’t think so.
Ella: No sir, not next Christmas, this Christmas! The day after tomorrow!
Below is the video in three parts. I urge you to watch it, and then to contact Build-A-Bear and let them know how you feel about them scaring your children with a message that is not only despicable, but absolutely false.
UPDATE:
I emailed the founder and CEO of Build-A-Bear, Maxine Clark, about this video. Below is my email, and her response.
Thank you for your email and candid comments regarding our animated holiday webisodes. We are sorry we disappointed you.
Our goal is to entertain and engage the imagination of children with our stuffed animals, our store environment, and online. Our intention with the Polar Bear story was to inspire children, through the voices of our animal characters, to make a difference in their own individual ways. We did not intend to politicize the topic of global climate change or offend anyone in any way. The webisodes concluded this week with Santa successfully leaving on his journey to deliver gifts around the world. The webisodes are no longer available on the site.
I started Build-A-Bear Workshop as a place for families and children to come for a fun experience combining imagination, creativity and empowerment. I have always placed great value in the trust that our Guests have in our brand.
At Build-A-Bear Workshop we have also strived to encourage kids to help others by participating in their communities. We listen to parents and kids about topics that they are interested in and care about. We especially value the input of parents. We are listening and taking all points of view into consideration for the future.
Again, thank you for voicing your opinion. It is appreciated. If you have future questions, please contact me directly or our Guest Service center at : Guestcomments@buildabear.com
Sincerely,
Maxine Clark
Maxine Clark
Founder and Chief Executive Bear
Build-A-Bear Workshop®
1954 Innerbelt Business Center Drive
St. Louis, MO 63114-5760
maxine@buildabear.com
LATEST NEWS:
Build-ABear removes global warming scare video from website
Comments
When a caller named "Anna" called Glenn Beck last week, I sent off a couple of emails to Build a Bear.
They responsed very quickly...
"through the voices of our animal characters, how they could also make a difference in big and small ways"
then when I likened their approach to "Amimal Farm" caracters, I heard from Maxine Clark...CEO.
------------------------
Thank you for writing to us and voicing your candid opinions and sharing your point of view. We are sorry that we disappointed you.
At Build-A-Bear Workshop we have always empowered and encouraged kids to help others by participating in their communities and the world. our Huggable Heroes program honors kids throughout the USA for making the world better. We listen to parents and kids and take the lead from them on things that they are interested in and care about.
More from Build A Bear CEO: Maxine Clark.
Our goal with the online webisodes was to show children, through two animated polar bears and a penguin, how they could also make a difference in big and small ways. The animated story occurs in the North Pole where the 2 polar bear characters live and they want to help keep the ice from melting so Santa and the reindeers can take off safely in time to deliver all their gifts. Thanks to the giant ice cubes created by the bear and penguin team they replace the melting ice and all is well so Santa and the reindeers do not miss a beat.
We had no other intentions with the story whatsoever. we do hear you and will certainly take your opinion into consideration when developing future stories. It is interested customers like yourselves that help us do a better job.
Sincerely,
Maxine Clark
Maxine Clark
Founder and Chief Executive Bear
Build-A-Bear Workshop
PH: 314-423-8000 ext 5202
FX: 866-844-5229
maxine@buildabear.com
Wow... crazy. Maybe Santa should relocate to Minnesota since the North Pole will be melted by Christmas. We are supposed to get 2 feet of snow in the next couple of days. Then again, Minnsota's hostile business environment might scare him away. Better look to North Dakota.
Did Obam bail out Build-A-Bear?
I hope people will never go Build-a-Bear ever again.
Good grief. What about dentists using toy teeth to make kids afraid of cavities? If brushing threatened the bottom line of rightwing business interests, no doubt the rightwing would be trying to obfuscate dental hygienics. Anyone who doesn't know of the overwhelming scientific consensus in favor of man-made warming doesn't want to know. It is premeditated irrationality for political/financial reasons.
Good grief. What about dentists using toy teeth to make kids afraid of cavities? If brushing threatened the bottom line of rightwing business interests, no doubt the rightwing would be trying to obfuscate dental hygienics. Anyone who doesn't know of the overwhelming scientific consensus in favor of man-made warming doesn't want to know. It is premeditated irrationality for political/financial reasons.
Terry, here's the difference. You see cavities are real, and the causes are proven. Showing children what can happen to their teeth without proper dental hygiene is just common sense, not a scare tactic. On the other hand, the overwhelming scientific consensus you speak of does not exist. There are thousands of reputable scientists who disput the theory of Anthropogenic Global Warming. If any money is at stake in this issue, it is the billions that will be made in the trading of carbon credits, and the hundreds of millions Al Gore has made promoting climate change as an impending catastrophe that is bound to doom us all. I was very open-minded about the possibilty of AGW until I saw the tactics being used by the left to supress opposing research while manipulating and altering data to produce their desired results. It seems you're the one who isn't willing to consider opposing views.
Darren Pope says: "I am sick and tired of left-wingers and their fear mongering". I bet you have no problem with the conservatives using fear mongering to scare ordinary citizens about terrorists. What about the fear mongering tactics used by the religious extermists when it comes to same sex marriage.
That's quite a reach. I have been quite critical of the right as well. I am of the belief that both of the major parties are corrupt to the core. I have spoken out extensively about the Patriot Act. As for gay marriage, I believe that's an issue that's open for debate, as should be the global warming theory. Fear mongering and scare tactics are wrong when used by the left as well as the right. Especially when they're used against small children.
What I've noticed here is that no one has defended the BABW video. Everyone seems to be pointing to the bad behavior of others to excuse the use of the video to scare children. Two wrongs never make a right.
Kudo's to Darren Pope for his response to the terrible video by Build-A-Bear regarding Global Warming. And more importantly, for writing to Maxine Clark regarding it, and the effect it would have on kids. I would encourage that no one would buy Build-A-Bear products also.
I read about this issue in the LA Times today and am fascinated to read your correspondence. I personally thought the video was charming. However, beyond that, you are far too late to protect children from the idea of global warming. They already know and are fully aware that wild Polar Bears could be extinct in the next few years. Don't underestimate the next generation, they may have to save us from ourselves! Happy Christmas
Rose, you should check you facts. Dr Mitchell Taylor, the world's foremost authority on Polar Bears, has been researching the status and management of polar bears in Canada and around the Arctic Circle for 30 years. He says their numbers are much higher today than they were 30 years ago. Stop listening to Al Gore. He has been caught in so many lies regarding the topic of global warming that I've lost count. Our children have been taught these lies by people like Gore, and through the use of propaganda videos such as the one BABW had on their website. Merry Christmas.
Maxine Clark and Build-A-Bear are to be commended for their bold and honorable attempt to share with our children the importance of a livable world that is in real danger of collapse. (The use of the term "global warming" does nothing to describe the immediate threat to our collective future by the continuing assault and degradation of Earth's life giving climate.)
If Darren Pope and his strong-arm tactics succeed in diverting our attention from climate collapse we will only further imperil ourselves and our children.
Again, I commend Maxine Clark and Build-A-Bear for their compassionate and ethical stance; I encourage them to retract their apology.
Thank You,
David Lange
I want MORE Build-a-Bear webisodes! Build-a-Bear Workshop's only disservice to the generation growing up in a climate crisis was to back down to a bully. Chief Executive Bear Maxine Clark, you really do a beary ethical, educated, engaging job helping prepare our children for the future. There's a lot more of us delighted with your engaging webisodes. Can the apologies to Pope: DEFEND the quest format and values of empowerment storytelling--and continue using them!
Build-a-Bear "politicizing" global warming? What?! As a geoscientist, I must loudly shout kudos to Build-a-Bear for its short-lived effort to educate children about the very real threat of global warming. Only right-wing whacko conservatives and those business-consumed profiteers fearing short-term loss of a few extra bucks fail to accept that the scientific evidence has overwhelmingly proven global warming threatens our world as we know it. It's a shame that an uneducated bully like Darren Pope has put an end to Build-a-Bear's worthy effort to teach kids about this threat.
Darren,
I assume that you're against lying to kids about Santa. Tell you what: we'll stop the lie about global warming when everyone stops the lie about Santa. Are you willing to stop that lie? Or are you only against lying when it doesn't meet your political beliefs?
www(dot)nasa(dot)gov/topics/earth/features/icesat-20090707(dot)html
www(dot)jpl(dot)nasa(dot)gov/news/news(dot)cfm?release=2009-107
Quote from the website.
Arctic sea ice thinned dramatically between the winters of 2004 and 2008, with thin seasonal ice replacing thick older ice as the dominant type for the first time on record. The new results, based on data from a NASA Earth-orbiting spacecraft, provide further evidence for the rapid, ongoing transformation of the Arctic's ice cover.
Northwest Passage Nearly Open
earthobservatory(dot)nasa(dot)gov/IOTD/view.php?id=7993
and from the NSIDC
nsidc(dot)org/news/press/2007_seaiceminimum/20070810_index(dot)html
Mr. Pope, a responsible reporter would have researched all that Ms. Clark has done for underprivileged children, Katrina victims, and more.... do you really think she got to her position and standing in the business world by being irresponsible? Come on.....pick on something else, and tell your children to go in and buy a bear in an effort to apologize for daddy's bad behavior.
maxine clark nor build a bear , have done nothing wrong i encourage everyone to go and buy a bear to excuse your selves for being so rude.
Build a bear is a great store and mr.Pope probably has no idea od everything this store does to help out communities and how much money they donate to issues about global warming, the oil spills in the gulf of mexico,katrina, and many many more causes.. you really need to do some research before you disagree with Mrs Clarks way of teaching kids the reality!
Global warming is taught in schools and so i dont think a video about father christmas who ultimately DOES NOT EXSIST!! is going to scare children???? How can you moan about Build-a-bear who donate Millions to charity and help sick children all over the globe, what would they gain from global warming?? If it doesnt exsist then im afraid Santa doesnt either. So if you want to stop scaring children then stop telling an ancient story about a fat old man who breaks into your house at night and goes into your childs bedroom!!! what kind of message are you spreading
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!