Lost Toy with Subliminal Message

broncosman
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Lost Toy with Subliminal Message Apr 18, 2018 2:41:22 GMT dogpolygonrt66, GINTegg, and 2 more like this

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Post by broncosman on Apr 18, 2018 2:41:22 GMT

Back in 2003, there was a minor controversy over a certain toy meant to "soothe" babies. It was one of those typical little fake aquarium things with the plastic fish which you're supposed to hang on the side of the baby's crib,and then when you press a certain button it plays a continuous track of ocean sounds which are meant to soothe the baby at night. The toy was sold at Walmart,under Walmart's own brand,Kid Connection. Now,the interesting thing about this toy is that some people claim that there is a subliminal message hidden within the ocean sounds soundtrack. Some people say that after listening to it closely,they could hear a faint voice in the background repeating "I hate you",again and again. Many parents complained about this,and the toy was quickly pulled from Walmart's shelves. Why this message was there remains a mystery to this very day. I think it would be very interesting to try and research this toy and solve the mystery. As of now,I cannot find any recordings of the toy and it's ocean soundtrack anywhere. This would be great to find,in order to confirm the presence of the subliminal message,and also just to be able to hear what it sounds like. I would also appreciate any info on the toy,it's manufacturer,the designer ect. Basically,anything you can pull up on this toy is valuable,imo.

Here is a news article about the toy: www.wnd.com/2003/11/21813/

Here is a good description of the toy from the news article:

The unnamed toy is tugboat-shaped with four small cartoon-like figures on the front – a fish, starfish, crab and an octopus. It is blue and white with a red anchor on the side where you push a button to make it play either music or the ocean sounds.

Here is an image of the toy,tho it's quite low quality:

dogpolygonrt66
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Lost Toy with Subliminal Message Apr 18, 2018 2:58:52 GMT

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Post by dogpolygonrt66 on Apr 18, 2018 2:58:52 GMT

From another article, we can see it was based on Fisher-Price's "Ocean Wonders Aquarium". It was also stated the toy was being manufactured in China, though this really doesn't help to narrow it down much. I'd recommend we scavenge Walmart.com's site archives from around the time of the controversey to see if we can locate the item, as it seems their site has actually been well archived.

Another image of the toy, but from an odd angle.

Interestingly, Gary Skelton in the article this image comes from states that he kept the toy for novelty, near the end of the article. I doubt the family still has it, but it's a lead. Probably shouldn't harass some random father-in-law, though.

Update: On archive.org's saves of their old website, I can't even find any MENTIONS of the kid connections brand, but I could just be doing poorly.

Last Edit: Apr 18, 2018 3:21:25 GMT by dogpolygonrt66

This is so sad, can we hit 50 likes?

broncosman
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Posts: 88

Lost Toy with Subliminal Message Apr 18, 2018 3:12:04 GMT dogpolygonrt66 likes this

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Post by broncosman on Apr 18, 2018 3:12:04 GMT

Apr 18, 2018 2:58:52 GMT dogpolygonrt66 said:

From another article, we can see it was based on Fisher-Price's "Ocean Wonders Aquarium". It was also stated the toy was being manufactured in China, though this really doesn't help to narrow it down much. I'd recommend we scavenge Walmart.com's site archives from around the time of the controversey to see if we can locate the item, as it seems their site has actually been well archived.

Yes,as far as I understand,this toy was meant to be Walmart's cheap ripoff of the very popular Fisher Price aquarium toy. Good idea to check the archives,I'll head over to WaybackMachine right now

dogpolygonrt66
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Lost Toy with Subliminal Message Apr 18, 2018 3:24:28 GMT

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Post by dogpolygonrt66 on Apr 18, 2018 3:24:28 GMT

Apr 18, 2018 3:12:04 GMT broncosman said:

Apr 18, 2018 2:58:52 GMT dogpolygonrt66 said:

From another article, we can see it was based on Fisher-Price's "Ocean Wonders Aquarium". It was also stated the toy was being manufactured in China, though this really doesn't help to narrow it down much. I'd recommend we scavenge Walmart.com's site archives from around the time of the controversey to see if we can locate the item, as it seems their site has actually been well archived.

Yes,as far as I understand,this toy was meant to be Walmart's cheap ripoff of the very popular Fisher Price aquarium toy. Good idea to check the archives,I'll head over to WaybackMachine right now

Fair warning, wayback machine, whenever it can't find a page in the date range you are at, will pick a random archive from way later for the page you are trying to get to. Be sure to try and avoid any snapshots past 11/16/2003, as that is when the WorldNewsDaily update article was published, stating Walmart had pulled the toy.

Unrelated: Found this weird thing while trying to find images of the toy. What

Update on searching their site: haven't found anything other than unrelated sound toys and a bunch of Fisher Price garbage. Looks like Walmart didn't much promote Kid connections on their main website.

I'd say it's best to try to call them, but it's unlikely you'd get much info. Maybe something'll come up now this old controversies been dug back up from it's grave.

Last Edit: Apr 18, 2018 3:34:31 GMT by dogpolygonrt66

This is so sad, can we hit 50 likes?

broncosman
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Posts: 88

Lost Toy with Subliminal Message Apr 18, 2018 3:48:58 GMT dogpolygonrt66 likes this

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Post by broncosman on Apr 18, 2018 3:48:58 GMT

Apr 18, 2018 3:24:28 GMT dogpolygonrt66 said:

Apr 18, 2018 3:12:04 GMT broncosman said:

Yes,as far as I understand,this toy was meant to be Walmart's cheap ripoff of the very popular Fisher Price aquarium toy. Good idea to check the archives,I'll head over to WaybackMachine right now

Fair warning, wayback machine, whenever it can't find a page in the date range you are at, will pick a random archive from way later for the page you are trying to get to. Be sure to try and avoid any snapshots past 11/16/2003, as that is when the WorldNewsDaily update article was published, stating Walmart had pulled the toy.

Unrelated: Found this weird thing while trying to find images of the toy. What

Update on searching their site: haven't found anything other than unrelated sound toys and a bunch of Fisher Price garbage. Looks like Walmart didn't much promote Kid connections on their main website.

I'd say it's best to try to call them, but it's unlikely you'd get much info. Maybe something'll come up now this old controversies been dug back up from it's grave.

Yeah,I couldn't find anything about Kid Connections on there either. The brand is easily found on the current site,but seems to be completely absent from the archived site. Strange. As for calling Walmart,I don't think that would be very useful. It's kind of in Walmart's best interest to try and cover this up as much as possible,that's the way they acted back then and I don't think they would act any different now. In the article,it says that they even went as far as to completely deny that there was any subliminal message at all,saying that there were only some "beeps" on the toy's recording,and not a voice. Despite the overwhelming amount of people who reported hearing a voice. Contacting Walmart should only be done as a last resort,I think.

Last Edit: Apr 18, 2018 3:49:41 GMT by broncosman

broncosman
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Posts: 88

Lost Toy with Subliminal Message Apr 18, 2018 4:43:09 GMT dogpolygonrt66 likes this

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Post by broncosman on Apr 18, 2018 4:43:09 GMT

I found someone's old rant on the poor quality of Kid Connection toys:https://apeiron.blogspot.ca/2004/05/wal-mart-kid-connection-brand-is-crap.html

Here is one part that stuck out to me:

To save money, Wal-Mart contracts with manufacturers to make several private label toys, which are sold under names such as Wal-Mart's Kid Connection. Profit margins on these products, many of which are manufactured outside the United States, are often twice those of brand-name toys, said the executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he continues to do business with the retailer.

Interesting.

LetDown
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Lost Toy with Subliminal Message Apr 18, 2018 5:27:39 GMT dogpolygonrt66 likes this

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Post by LetDown on Apr 18, 2018 5:27:39 GMT

This sounds really bizarre. Like something bizarre enough I'd want to actually hear it, cheap Chinese toys with random English mixed in have a campy charm.

I think they key to finding the audio is to find a example being sold online on something like Ebay. People sell used worthless toys all the time, it has to be somewhere. The issue is that given it being some cheap Walmart brand it might either be under some completely random description or have not sold nearly as well as to make it abundant to find.

A question: While it comes from a toy, since we are trying to find the sounds it makes does that count as lost audio? It's kind of in that grey lost media area

Last Edit: Apr 18, 2018 5:28:58 GMT by LetDown

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broncosman
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Lost Toy with Subliminal Message Apr 18, 2018 5:57:36 GMT dogpolygonrt66 likes this

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Post by broncosman on Apr 18, 2018 5:57:36 GMT

Apr 18, 2018 5:27:39 GMT LetDown said:

This sounds really bizarre. Like something bizarre enough I'd want to actually hear it, cheap Chinese toys with random English mixed in have a campy charm.

I think they key to finding the audio is to find a example being sold online on something like Ebay. People sell used worthless toys all the time, it has to be somewhere. The issue is that given it being some cheap Walmart brand it might either be under some completely random description or have not sold nearly as well as to make it abundant to find.

A question: While it comes from a toy, since we are trying to find the sounds it makes does that count as lost audio? It's kind of in that grey lost media area

Hmm,I would say it would count as lost audio. The most interesting thing to me is,what is the origin of the audio? Like,where did they sample it from? That seems extremely difficult to find out tho,first lets focus on actually finding the audio. I'll definitely be scouring around eBay and the like.

dogpolygonrt66
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Found three items

Posts: 713

Lost Toy with Subliminal Message Apr 18, 2018 6:04:26 GMT

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Post by dogpolygonrt66 on Apr 18, 2018 6:04:26 GMT

Apr 18, 2018 5:57:36 GMT broncosman said:

Apr 18, 2018 5:27:39 GMT LetDown said:

This sounds really bizarre. Like something bizarre enough I'd want to actually hear it, cheap Chinese toys with random English mixed in have a campy charm.

I think they key to finding the audio is to find a example being sold online on something like Ebay. People sell used worthless toys all the time, it has to be somewhere. The issue is that given it being some cheap Walmart brand it might either be under some completely random description or have not sold nearly as well as to make it abundant to find.

A question: While it comes from a toy, since we are trying to find the sounds it makes does that count as lost audio? It's kind of in that grey lost media area

Hmm,I would say it would count as lost audio. The most interesting thing to me is,what is the origin of the audio? Like,where did they sample it from? That seems extremely difficult to find out tho,first lets focus on actually finding the audio. I'll definitely be scouring around eBay and the like.

I wonder if this is actually going to end up like Evilstick, where there was actually some crazy thing hidden. Doubt it, but it's happened before. Most likely, the Chinese manufacturer mistakenly mixed another audio track in with generic ocean sounds volume 4., or the recording was done in a building, and people were talking in the background at one point, and it got mixed into the track. Going to bet that ocean sounds was stock though.

Last Edit: Apr 18, 2018 6:07:33 GMT by dogpolygonrt66

This is so sad, can we hit 50 likes?

broncosman
Lost Media Casual

Posts: 88

Lost Toy with Subliminal Message Apr 18, 2018 6:30:33 GMT dogpolygonrt66 likes this

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Post by broncosman on Apr 18, 2018 6:30:33 GMT

Apr 18, 2018 6:04:26 GMT dogpolygonrt66 said:

Apr 18, 2018 5:57:36 GMT broncosman said:

Hmm,I would say it would count as lost audio. The most interesting thing to me is,what is the origin of the audio? Like,where did they sample it from? That seems extremely difficult to find out tho,first lets focus on actually finding the audio. I'll definitely be scouring around eBay and the like.

I wonder if this is actually going to end up like Evilstick, where there was actually some crazy thing hidden. Doubt it, but it's happened before. Most likely, the Chinese manufacturer mistakenly mixed another audio track in with generic ocean sounds volume 4., or the recording was done in a building, and people were talking in the background at one point, and it got mixed into the track. Going to bet that ocean sounds was stock though.

I already have a pretty good theory on what happened,I think. I think the manufacturer mistakingly used a track from some university study on subliminal/hypnotic suggestion. A lot of these sorts of studies were done in the 90s. They would play tapes with subliminal or hypnotic suggestions to people while they were asleep,awake or under hypnosis,and then conduct tests on them afterwards. I think what happened here was,after the study was concluded the recordings used went into the public domain. The recording was probably just labeled something like "Ocean Sounds", and the fact that it contained the "I hate you" subliminal suggestion was probably only included in a footnote - a footnote that the manufacturer probably didn't bother to read. This seems to make the most sense to me,tho it's just purely my speculation,I have no proof.

The only other thing I could think of is that someone actually put it on there on purpose,because they have some sort of interest in influencing kids to grow up to hate their parents or something? Hmmmm. Actually hearing it would really help in determining whether it's unintentional background noise or intentionally mixed in. In the news article,the voice is described like this:“The voice has a softness to it. It sounds hypnotizing." Seems intentionally mixed in. Still,even if it was,that doesn't mean the manufacturer was aware of it. My bet is on the university study theory.

aaaaaaaaaaaaa Lost Media Fan aaaaaaaaaaaaa Posts: 184	Lost Toy with Subliminal Message Apr 18, 2018 13:14:28 GMT Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by aaaaaaaaaaaaa on Apr 18, 2018 13:14:28 GMT This doesn't seem like lost media, this seems like something you could pick up at a thrift store.

dogpolygonrt66
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Lost Toy with Subliminal Message Apr 18, 2018 17:50:13 GMT broncosman likes this

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Post by dogpolygonrt66 on Apr 18, 2018 17:50:13 GMT

Apr 18, 2018 13:14:28 GMT aaaaaaaaaaaaa said:

This doesn't seem like lost media, this seems like something you could pick up at a thrift store.

No, it's not something you can 'just find'. There are barely any images online (no clear ones at all, either), Walmart discontinued it well over a decade ago, and also recalled it and has been hush-hush ever since. And the audio should be considered lost media as it is audio.

This is so sad, can we hit 50 likes?

broncosman
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Posts: 88

Lost Toy with Subliminal Message Apr 18, 2018 20:48:13 GMT dogpolygonrt66 likes this

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Post by broncosman on Apr 18, 2018 20:48:13 GMT

Apr 18, 2018 13:14:28 GMT aaaaaaaaaaaaa said:

This doesn't seem like lost media, this seems like something you could pick up at a thrift store.

Ha,I only wish it could be found that easily ! This thing got pulled from the shelves so fast that barely anyone got to buy it, and most of the people who did have it ended up throwing it away after hearing the news. It's quite rare. Here's hoping it does actually turn up at some thrift store,tho.

meditate03 Lost Media Beginner Posts: 35	Lost Toy with Subliminal Message Apr 20, 2018 5:57:41 GMT chainbreaker likes this Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by meditate03 on Apr 20, 2018 5:57:41 GMT Does it actually "play" the message or did someone's mind play tricks on them? May be related to the phenomenon where people hear music, speech, etc. from white noise machines or fans going.

broncosman
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Lost Toy with Subliminal Message Apr 20, 2018 7:03:50 GMT dogpolygonrt66 likes this

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Post by broncosman on Apr 20, 2018 7:03:50 GMT

Apr 20, 2018 5:57:41 GMT meditate03 said:

Does it actually "play" the message or did someone's mind play tricks on them? May be related to the phenomenon where people hear music, speech, etc. from white noise machines or fans going.

It's possible. We can't determine that until we actually have a recording of it. From the way people have described it,it does seem like it actually plays the message. The way Walmart responded also made it seem like people weren't making stuff up. If it really was pareidolia,they would've chalked it up to pareidolia,called everyone paranoid and closed the book on the whole issue with that. Instead,they just straight up lied and said that there were "beeps" on the recording instead of a voice,and then quietly pulled the toy from the shelves. This is why I'm so eager to hear what the heck this actually sounds like. Like,is it just an amalgamation of random noise which only vaguely sounds like "I hate you" , or is it actually a clear voice speaking the words "I hate you" ?

Post by broncosman on Apr 18, 2018 2:41:22 GMT

Post by dogpolygonrt66 on Apr 18, 2018 2:58:52 GMT

Post by broncosman on Apr 18, 2018 3:12:04 GMT

Post by dogpolygonrt66 on Apr 18, 2018 3:24:28 GMT

Post by broncosman on Apr 18, 2018 3:48:58 GMT

Post by broncosman on Apr 18, 2018 4:43:09 GMT

Post by LetDown on Apr 18, 2018 5:27:39 GMT

Post by broncosman on Apr 18, 2018 5:57:36 GMT

Post by dogpolygonrt66 on Apr 18, 2018 6:04:26 GMT

Post by broncosman on Apr 18, 2018 6:30:33 GMT

Post by aaaaaaaaaaaaa on Apr 18, 2018 13:14:28 GMT

Post by dogpolygonrt66 on Apr 18, 2018 17:50:13 GMT

Post by broncosman on Apr 18, 2018 20:48:13 GMT

Post by meditate03 on Apr 20, 2018 5:57:41 GMT

Post by broncosman on Apr 20, 2018 7:03:50 GMT

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