When Bjorn Thorpe of Whatcom County in Washington state first watched his three-year-old nephew play with the toy military aircraft he got him as a Christmas gift, he was, let’s say, taken aback.
To Mecca.
Okay, he wasn’t. But the plaything was trying to. Because, believe it or not (watch the following USA Today broadcast of the peculiar holiday story and it’ll leave no choice in the matter) the “WolVol Bump and Go Action Electric F16 Military Fighter Jet Aircraft Airplane Toy with Lights and Sounds” that Thorpe bought on Amazon played, instead of plane noises, an Islamic prayer that Muslims recite on their pilgrimage to their holy city in western Saudi Arabia.
This from the Mirror:
“We put the batteries in and didn’t get what we expected,” he said .
“I do respect other religions, but it’s not the right situation to have it on a children’s toy.”
He is keen to get a refund for the toy.
The toy company WolVol, which has a four-star rating on Amazon, has stated that the manufacturer is to blame.
Reviews online include Bill Ryan’s from December 27: “Plane has bizarre middle Eastern chanting no jet noises. Plane looks ok and moves around but the chanting is annoying and creepy and you can’t turn off the sound.”
On December 12, Frank P wrote: “This thing is a piece of junk. It’s super loud and the one we bought didn’t even play jet sounds. It played some sort of weird music that we couldn’t understand.”
Maybe Thorpe should stick to buying G.I. Joes?