GEELONG ADVERTISER
JEMMA RYAN
Controversy hasn’t stopped collectors from snapping up Santa golly dollies, with one Geelong store selling out in record time.
About 70 of the dolls, which many consider racist caricatures, flew off the shelves for
$45 a piece at Westminster Christmas in Manifold Heights yesterday before being officially declared sold out at 12.30pm.
Paul Nolan, brother of store owner David, said they had already begun taking orders for the bestseller, formally known as “golliwogs”.
“There’s a lot of collectors out there and as soon as they heard we had Santa golly dollies it’s been insane,” he said.
“We’re trying to get another delivery shipped as quickly as we can but in the meantime we’ve got a new range of (traditional) golly dollies coming tomorrow.”
However Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission Dr Dvir Abramovich, Australia’s leading group fighting hatred in all its forms, has called on Westminster Christmas to withdraw the dolls from sale and donate any proceeds to an indigenous organisation or cause.
“It is beyond insensitive and wrong for any company to make a profit from the sale of these hateful objects,” Dr Abramovich said.
“Any items or images which represent intolerance and bigotry have no place in our community.”
He said the dolls “perpetuate a destructive and derogatory stereotype”.
“There is nothing fun, cute or funny about golliwogs which are commercial symbols of racism that are degrading, humiliating, and hurtful to so many people.”