As a kid, chocolate was one of the best things ever. Assuming your parents were pretty strict about sweets, finally getting a nice, big piece of milk chocolate was definitely something to look forward to. Even better were Wonder Balls — remember those? Just huge balls made out of chocolate, filled with either more candy or a fun surprise toy, that were really popular in the 90s. Usually my dad would bring one home for me after work, and it was all I looked forward to (besides having my dad finally available to play with me).
In some other countries, it seems like Kinder Eggs are the equivalent chocolate to my childhood Wonder Balls. These egg-shaped chocolates are also filled with small toys and trinkets, and the candies come in various sizes and are occasionally themed.
Both the Wonder Ball and Kinder Egg have something in common: both were banned as choking hazards (at least in the U.S.). The toys in each caused a lot of concern, and some deaths, so good luck finding either of these with toys in them. Wonder Ball eventually replaced the toys with candy, but were no longer manufactured. Kinder Eggs still contain toys, but now there’s a bigger problem.
In other countries, Kinder Eggs are still very popular and well-loved by so many.
More recently, they’ve come out with Kinder Joy (the FDA-approved version). However, even this new release is under fire for a reason other than the potentially dangerous possibility of choking. An unhappy customer on Twitter tweeted at Kinder, showing what exactly was inside his son’s Kinder Egg.
@ferreroYPS @FerreroUK @Kchocolate_ES my son just pulled this out of a #kindersuprise #kkk #toys #Kinder #suprise #Egg #suprise pic.twitter.com/ezAKz8wN0Q
— rob_rma (@rma_rob) December 9, 2018
Inside was a human-like egg breed holding three balloons — each balloon had a capital K stamped on, reading “KKK.” Of course, people were not happy about this at all. In the United States, this toy’s (likely unintentional) reference to the Ku Klux Klan may have a lot more consequences than in other parts of the world.
Trump-haired Kinder egg with KKK balloons#WTF #LOL pic.twitter.com/Jx7iLgxgcm
— Elad Levy (@mrlevyelad) November 7, 2018
Bought myself a Kinder egg (don't judge) and here's what I got. I mean I know you can't get these in the US, but why make kids the target audience of this active measures/disinformation/sharp power campaign? Foul play, KKK! pic.twitter.com/hwy8Tn78Kv
— Anton Tsvetov (@antsvetov) October 21, 2018
This blonde Kinder Surprise Egg toy declaring its support for the KKK #MildlyInteresting pic.twitter.com/la2bIo4MgI
— Mildy Interesting (@Little_Interest) September 18, 2018
Munchies reached out to Ferrero, the parent company of Kinder, for any comment regarding the offensive toy. As of now, they haven’t heard back, but a Kinder spokesperson reached out to Yahoo, saying that they didn’t mean to offend anyone. Initially, the egg-man was allegedly only supposed to hold one balloon, but adding more gave a fuller structure to the toy.
“We had absolutely no intention to make associations with the Ku Klux Klan and we truly apologise to our consumers for any unintentional offense caused,” the spokesperson told Yahoo. “We do not support this organisation in any way.”
Despite Kinder Eggs being more popular outside of the U.S., one would hope they’d be more conscious of the cultural significance of the products they are producing. Do better, Kinder!
