Fisher Price walkie talkie picks up conversation about strip clubs

Posted Aug 8th 2008 2:00PM by Susan Wagner
Filed under: Toddlers, In the news, Weird but true

(Click the photo to see the 10 Most Dangerous Toys Ever Made)

My sons have walkie talkies; mostly they use them to talk to each other, from opposite ends of the house. Their conversations go something like this: "Can you hear me?" "What?" "I said CAN YOU HEAR ME?!?" "WHAT???"

Fun for everyone.

Recently, though, a West Virginia mom heard more than she anticipated over her three-year-old son's walkie talkie. The toy was apparently picking up CB conversations between truckers. If that weren't odd enough, the conversations included references to getting high and going to strip clubs; mom Deborah Pancaro describes them as "really explicit." The walkie talkie, made by Fisher Price, is designed to work at up to a distance of 20 feet, but somehow it was picking up CB radio transmissions from the guys driving on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, over 275 miles from Pancaro's Huntingon, West Virginia, home.

Pancaro wrote to Fisher Price asking for a recall of the Dora and Diego walkie talkies, because, she said, "I'd just hate for little kids to be hearing things like that." The company has apologized for what it terms a "disappointing experience" and has tried, unsuccessfully, to contact Pancaro twice this week. Maybe they need to use one of those walkie talkies to get in touch with her.

What say you -- should Fisher Price recall ALL the walkie talkies, or is this really not that big a deal?

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Reader Comments

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1. They should just send out a warning for parents, and let them choose whether or not they want their kids to play with them.

Posted at 2:06PM on Aug 8th 2008 by June

2. think mom might need truckers to stop by and visit with her
she has a lot of time on her hands

Posted at 4:02PM on Aug 8th 2008 by mycobra

3. I might buy a set of them myself if they get that good reception. I bought a set that was supposed to get 5 miles and am doing good if it gets 2. The ones for kids sound better.

Posted at 4:15PM on Aug 8th 2008 by glennjuliejeremy

4. I think they should recall the walkie talkies. I personally have a 3 year old and I do not want her hearing things like that. RECALL!

Posted at 4:32PM on Aug 8th 2008 by furl6211

5. wow no one has realized this until now i knew about this when i was 10 they can even pick up drive through head sets its just depends on the frequency so its really no big deal w/e shell get over it

Posted at 4:56PM on Aug 8th 2008 by Mike

6. I personally wouldn't want my kids to hear that either(nobody would). fortunately I'm smart enough to realize what a walkie-talkie is.

Posted at 5:41PM on Aug 8th 2008 by olli74

7. I am wandering why the writer used "Walmart toy"? This is a Fisher Price toy bought at Walmart. Just wandering is this just a way to attack Walmart? I am sure this toy can be bought at a variety of stores.

Posted at 6:55PM on Aug 8th 2008 by Lonnie

8. out of curiosity...if someone drives past my house blasting music with explicit lyrics, should i demand a recall of the car, the stereo, or should i go straight to the police and demand that the driver be arrested?

Posted at 7:50PM on Aug 8th 2008 by Smarty

9. Lonnie--this was called a Walmart toy because it is made by Fisher Price but sold exclusively at Wal Mart. At least it was--it's been discontinued.

Posted at 7:51PM on Aug 8th 2008 by princess poon

10. Heck, I've been using my sister's 'easy bake oven' to create gourmet dishes since 1972. In fact, I made a city bus out of legos just so my friends and I could get to the strip clubs in question. We must remember not to use the CB though. And now, Fisher-Price's new "walkie-talkie and lap dance finder" has been foiled!

Those meddling kids.

Wait a minute... How did this little kid know what a strip club was? When I was his age, I thought a strip club was the group of other kids in detention who had to pull black strips in class that day. Some had the breakfast club, we had the strip club. But, we couldn't call it "the black strip club" cause some teacher said it wouldn't be right. Hey, I was 7!

OK, back to building my lego space lab. This is good info -- I will immediately make changes to our intended communications devices. Don't want meddling kids hearing about Centaur 46 and it's multitude of nudie bars..

Posted at 3:18PM on Aug 10th 2008 by Bear

11. This has been happening for years !!! I tthink a warning would be good on the label---but not a recall. This recall stuff if getting out of hand!
Parents need to educate themselves before causing nationwide "panics" .

Posted at 3:38PM on Aug 10th 2008 by 3peasinapod

12. Uh... NO. People should start talking like DECENT people and the makers of the product need to make sure the product does what it SAYS it does... picking up frequencies UP TO 20 feet.

Posted at 4:29PM on Aug 10th 2008 by dawn

13. Stop raising your kids as delicate spineless people and let them possibly experiance life. If you wont let them live, you shouldnt have had them. If they hear that conversation, tell them how and why its wrong. Maybe your kid could actually learn something besides how to blame companies for your screwed up deprived kids lives.

Posted at 9:32PM on Aug 10th 2008 by bill newton

14. I agree! Why ban a product just because YOU had a bad experience with it? I think the company should make known the issues and let the parents decide. I wouldn't want my child to hear that either, but I certainly am not going to freak out and lose my mind if he did. LIFE HAPPENS. Some kids today are sheltered to the point of oblivion, and when they enter the world as adults they are as naive as babes in the woods. Hiding what is out there in the world does not make it cease to exist. I believe that being open and honest with your children and teaching them what is right while imparting your values to them helps give them the knowledge that they will need to protect themselves and succeed out there.

Posted at 4:48PM on Aug 10th 2008 by TerriJ

15. This mother should stop trying to be mother to the entire country. Maybe she should just not buy or let her child play with walkie talkies. She should also take a class to learn about radio frequencies; she might learn how rare a chance that a device such as this could pick-up transmissions from so far away. Is she sure that those transmissions where not coming from her own house or a neighbor?

Posted at 4:58PM on Aug 10th 2008 by George

16. Not to worry. This was an unfortunate fluke. I doubt very seriously it is still occuring. Like in the early days of T.V. when strange weather could bring in TV stations from across the country and you couldn't get local stations. I lived in West Virginia at the time and spent most of a day watching great pictures out of Amarillo, Texas during a weird weather break. It happens, it rarely repeats in the same way.

Posted at 5:17PM on Aug 10th 2008 by B.Dixon

17. I am a mother of 3 and I know I don't shelter my children from the real world. I'm so sick of everything being recalled because of ridiculous things like this. You can hear other conversations through cordless phones, speakers even on my cell phone as well. It's something that happens. A chance you take. If it were to happen to one of my children, I agree with most, and explain to them. Put a sticker on the box. Recalling is just out of control.

Posted at 6:11PM on Aug 10th 2008 by Amy

18. I think this story is made up! It is highly unlikely if not impossible for those type so walkie talkie to pick up transmissions that far away

Posted at 11:54PM on Aug 10th 2008 by mac

19. christ, my cell phone even get reception like that. I'm switching

Posted at 7:00PM on Aug 10th 2008 by tom

20. For chrissakes - he's 3 years old. At the MOST some blurb should be inserted in the instructions that the walkie-talkies "might" have a greater range under certain conditions, just to "lawyer proof" them. That's probably why Mom hasn't answered calls from the company - probably lawyer shopping - sale on ambulance chasers on aisle 13!!

Posted at 7:09PM on Aug 10th 2008 by George

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