BEND me, shape me, hang me. This is the Saddam Hussein execution doll, writes Maurice Chittenden.

Barbie and Ken were never like this, but a company in the United States has demonstrated its gallows humour by rushing a commemorative toy into production.

 

The company, Herobuilders, has previously faced threats after producing a doll of Osama Bin Laden in a pink tutu.

The Saddam doll was launched just as the deposed Iraqi dictator went to his gruesome end. It is for sale on the internet at £12.95.

 

Emil Vicale, who runs the company in Connecticut, said: “We jumped the gun. The action figure comes complete with a ‘Dope on a Rope’ T-shirt and a fun noose.â€

The 12in figure is the latest in a series of political dolls. All have been good sellers apart from a Tony Blair action man in combat fatigues. The company was stuck with 600 of them on its shelves.

Herobuilders has made more than 100 satirical dolls, including George Bush as a superhero; a power-dressed Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, and one mocking Dick Cheney, the American vice-president, for accidentally shooting a friend while hunting.

In a world where toys can become us, it also offers to produce a figurine of anyone for £216. For no extra charge, the doll will have a chip inserted so it can talk with your voice.

As well as Saddam swinging on a noose, the firm’s latest range of political dolls includes one of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Let them eat yellow cakeâ€, which misquotes Marie Antoinette with a reference to uranium ore.

Film of Saddam’s hanging captured on a mobile telephone and posted several times on YouTube has now been watched by more than 1m people. In Britain children have been found swapping pictures of the execution by phone with their friends.

 

it's disgusting in my opinion.

You see worse on South Park, this seems like poor taste but no one is forced to buy it

Lol that's so weird. I wonder who will actually buy it?

quite a few kids already commited suicide after watching saddam being hung on tv so this doll thing is going way too far in my opinion.

quite a few kids already commited suicide after watching saddam being hung on tv so this doll thing is going way too far in my opinion.

 

Who let kids watch it?? They're stupid to kill themselves because of it.

 

I haven't seen the video, and wouldn't want to.

 

The doll thing's quite funny though. You're not forced to buy it afterall.

quite a few kids already commited suicide after watching saddam being hung on tv so this doll thing is going way too far in my opinion.

 

People kill themselves after listening to records or watching movies or playing computer games, you can't blame the video or the song or whatever blame the person, if they are f***ed up enough to take their life then if Saddam video never sent them over the edge something else would have

People kill themselves after listening to records or watching movies or playing computer games, you can't blame the video or the song or whatever blame the person, if they are f***ed up enough to take their life then if Saddam video never sent them over the edge something else would have

 

But it's so much easier for the parents to blame it on the media. Or Doom 2. Or Mortal Kombat. Or Marilyn Manson. Or anti-depressant medications. Or, who's that guy they say was really evil and killed a bunch of people and that's why we had to invade the country because he was such a threat to our way of life? -- oh, Saddam Hussein, that's right!

quite a few kids already commited suicide after watching saddam being hung on tv so this doll thing is going way too far in my opinion.

 

I seriously doubt that that was the reason in and of itself... You dont get to that point unless you are suffering severe depression for years... The Saddam doll thing is certainly tasteless though, but I wouldn't ban it...

I reckon its bullcrap about people killing themselves over watching it, i saw it last night on youtube and it didn't really effect me..

I really think it's wrong, not because I don't think Saddam deserves it. But I think it will only cause controvery, and how does it benefit anybody? It doesn't, it just provokes violence IMO.

isnt there a pic