Toys R Us faces bizarre race row over children's dolls after selling white family of five for £3 more than 'ethnic' alternative

  • 'Wooden Dolls Family' formed of father, mother, son, daughter and baby
  • White version on sale for £9.99 while 'ethnic' version is available for £6.99
  • One shopper tweets: 'Not sure this pricing is socially acceptable in 2015'
  • Toys R Us says £6.99 was 'keying error on pricing' and should be £9.99

By Mark Duell for MailOnline

Published: 00:57 EST, 2 October 2015 | Updated: 10:11 EST, 6 October 2015

Toys R Us is facing a bizarre race row after selling a family of black dolls for £3 less than white ones.

The children’s retailer was found to have the ‘Wooden Dolls Family’ product of a white father, mother, son, daughter and baby figures on sale for £9.99 on its website.

However the ‘ethnic’ version - which features the same five dolls, but as black relatives wearing different outfits - was available for about two thirds of the price, at just £6.99.

More expensive: The children’s retailer was found to have the ‘Wooden Dolls Family’ product of a white father, mother, son, daughter and baby figures on sale for £9.99 on its website

Cheaper: The ‘ethnic’ version of the set - which features the same five figures, but as black relatives wearing different outfits - was available for 30 per cent less, at just £6.99.

One Twitter user from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, spotted the price difference when visiting the store’s Sheffield branch, and tweeted last month: ‘Not sure this pricing is socially acceptable in 2015.’

The product description for the toys - which are exclusive to Toys R Us and aimed at children aged three to eight - says: ‘This great dolls house family would just love living in your wooden doll's house.

‘Use your imagination and welcome this family of five into your dollhouse neighbourhood. Includes father, mother, son, daughter and baby figures.’

A Toys R Us spokesman told The Sun that it had made a mistake, adding: ‘This £6.99 was simply a keying error on a pricing - the ethnic family should be £9.99 as well. The price will be changed.’

The company’s website was down for maintenance early this morning, but MailOnline was able to obtain screen-grabs of the different prices via cached pages of the retailer’s website.

However, by 6am the website was live again - and the ethnic dolls had a revised price of £9.99. 

In January, Argos was accused of racism after selling black and Asian dolls for £10 less than the white version of the 12-inch toy.

It was branded 'unacceptable' for pricing a white doll, called 'Maria', at £34.99 - £10 more than black doll 'Naima' and Asian doll 'Yang'.

Mother-of-three Lisa O'Reilly, 32, of South Killingholme, Lincolnshire, complained to the retailer after noticing the pricing difference while shopping for her two-year-old daughter Darcy.

Argos apologised after the 'genuine online pricing error', adding that it ‘strongly refutes any suggestion of discrimination with the pricing of the Corolle Calin dolls’.

LEGO MOSQUES AND EARLY LEARNING CENTRE PIGS: TOY CONTROVERSIES 

It is not the first time children's toys have been at the centre of a racism row.

In 2013, Lego was accused of racism by the Turkish community over a Star Wars toy allegedly depicting a mosque.

The critics claimed that the Jabba's Palace model, part of Lego's Star Wars range, was offensive to Muslims because it resembled the Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul - one of the world's most renowned mosques.

In 2013, Lego was accused of racism by the Turkish community over a Star Wars toy allegedly depicting the Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul. Critics claimed that the Jabba's Palace model was offensive to Muslims

Members of the Turkish Cultural Community of Austria group also accused the toy manufacturer of depicting Asians as having 'deceitful and criminal personalities'.

At the time, outraged Muslims criticised the toy producer, accusing it of deliberately placing contextual errors in the toy.

Lego responded by confirming that the Lego set was based on the home of Jabba the Hutt, a central character in the Star Wars series, who lives in a domed palace, with a separated watchtower.

At the time, a spokesman said: ‘The Lego Star Wars product Jabba´s Palace does not reflect any actually existing buildings, people, or the mentioned mosque.

It was said that the Jabba's Palace model, part of Lego's Star Wars range, was offensive because it resembled the Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul (above) - one of the world's most renowned mosques

'The Lego mini-figures are all modelled on characters from the movie.

'We regret that the product has caused the members of the Turkish cultural community to come to a wrong interpretation, but point out that when designing the product only the fictional content of the Star Wars saga were referred to.'

Then, following a meeting between Turkish community leaders and Lego executives, it was agreed that production of the toy would end from 2014 onwards.

And in 2010, The Early Learning Centre ditched the pig from its HappyLand Goosefeather Farm toy set after it upset some customers.

In 2010, The Early Learning Centre removed the pig from its HappyLand Goosefeather Farm set over fears it would upset customers because of 'religious reasons'. It later did a U-turn and put the farm animal back in

At the time, the store said the farm animal was removed from the set following ‘customer feedback’ and ‘religious reasons’. In some religions, pigs are seen as unclean.

However, just days later, the retailer did a U-turn and agreed to bring back the pigs after disappointed families complained.

Writing on an online fourm, one mother said: ‘I’m a Muslim and it doesn’t bother me. It is just another animal. What is the store going to do next? Ban the Peppa Pig cartoon? Ban books with pigs in?’

The Early Learning Centre later released a statement which said: ‘We have taken the decision to reinstate the pigs and will no longer sell the set in international markets where it might be an issue.’