Another reason to hate Toys 'R Us

Toys 'R Us apparently doesn't have a problem with taking candy from a baby- almost literally.

The chain store giant ran a contest for the first baby born in 2007 to be awarded $25,000. The fine print (who actually reads that stuff?) stated that the mother had to be a citizen of the U.S. Baby Yuki Lin was awarded the prize and then had it taken away after the folks at Toys 'R Us realized her mother was actually a Chinese citizen. They then took the money and gave it to the "runner-up" - the only baby of the three “finalists” born to American parents. Public outrage, media scrutiny and boycott threats were enough for the company to relent and re-gift the money to (how tacky!) Yuki Lin. To cover all their bases they allowed the runner-up baby to keep its money and also gave $25,000 to the "second runner-up" whose parents are residents of El Salvador.

What kind of spineless suit would have the chutzpah to do that? If they were able to fact check after the money was awarded, why didn’t they do it before? Not only that but everybody knows that you don’t mess around with a woman whose postpartum hormones are raging.

I'm not going to get into competitive birthing. Ew. The whole idea behind this sweepstakes makes my stomach churn.

Shame on you, Toys 'R Us! I didn't need any more incentive to avoid your stores, the nasty return policy was more than enough, but you could give away Nintendo Wiis* and I still wouldn't show up.

*For reasons I can't articulate, I really, really, really want a Nintendo Wii.