This petition is a call to Playmobil to stop being racist and start creating a world for all of our children. Not just the white ones.

Dear Playmobil, 

Tell me if this seems OK to you: 

If I want to buy a modern white family from Playmobil, it’s easy. There are all sorts of modern family sets to choose from and almost all of them come with an entirely white family. All I have to do is click a button. Head to cart, buy it. Done. 

Now, if I want to purchase a modern black family or modern family of colour with a click of a button from your website...well, I can’t. 

There is one ‘Family’ set in the Playmobil City Life range. It’s white. No other option. 

And you won't find a modern day black family or family of colour in any of the modern Playmobil sets. Not one. 

To buy a modern black family or family of colour from Playmobil, this is what I had to go through:

First I had to search through all the Playmobil options to discover that there was not one black family or family of colour in any of the modern ranges. 

I then had to fill out a form on your website to contact customer services. 

I then had to await their reply by email. 

Customer services replied telling me that if I wanted a modern black family I would have to order it as ‘spare parts’.

(Honestly, I was so disgusted by this response that if it hadn’t been for now wanting to see how far I’d have to go to buy a black family from Playmobil, I would have walked away and sworn never to buy from Playmobil again)

I was sent a list of codes and labels (with no pictures) so that I could pick my black family out of your ‘spare parts’.

I then had to wait to be emailed a quote. 

Once I had the quote I had to make a call to customer services giving the reference number for the quote so that I could pay and make my order. 

The whole process took days and left me shaken that a global toy company like Playmobil could be getting away with this level of racism. 

So let me ask you Playmobil: does this seem OK to you?

Is this what you want for our children? You want to give them the message that this is only a world for the white ones? Only they exist? That the men, women and children of colour are relegated to spare parts? How does that seem OK to you?

What message are you giving to our black children and children of colour? What message are you giving to our white children?

You state on your website that you offer a “unique play principle, stimulating imagination and creativity and thus promoting child development.”  But what kind of child development are promoting with your white dominated Playmobil world? 

Research shows that exposure and engagement with diversity of all kinds is key to a child's social and emotional development. “Kids need to see themselves in the toys and objects they interact with” (Elizabeth Sweet - sociologist and lecturer at California University) - it helps develop their self-esteem. 

And children exposed to dolls and characters of different colours and race when they're young tend to be less likely to exhibit racism (or other prejudicial behaviors). 

So diversity in the toys they play with is key to the healthy development of ALL of our children.

And yet here you are - a huge leading global toy brand creating an almost exclusively white ‘City Life’ world. Have you ever stopped to consider the damaging impact of that on ALL of our children?

When you look back at the history of Playmobil in ten years’ time, do you want to be able to say ‘we were part of the change’ or part of the problem? 

Because at the moment you are a big part of the problem.

Global companies like you need to be held to account. 

And so here we are, calling for you to take your modern black figures and modern figures of colour out of your spare parts and offer them as family sets on your website.

We ask that you update your entire collection and bring diversity into ALL sets. So that when we browse your collections we see people of all races and colours represented equally.

We ask that you offer every type of character in different colours and gender. If I want to buy a black female firefighter for my child to play with then make it easy for me to order online with one click.

We ask that you stop being part of the problem and become part of the solution in the movement to dismantle racism.

And we won’t stop making a noise until we see that happen.