Everyone's not crazy for this bear
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By Darren M. Allen Vermont Press Bureau - Published: January 12, 2005
MONTPELIER – A straitjacketed Valentine's Day bear, offered by the Vermont Teddy Bear Company to show out-of-control love for your sweetie, is instead driving the state's mental health community nuts.
The "Crazy for You Bear" – complete with its own set of commitment papers – is "a tasteless use of marketing that stigmatizes persons with mental illness," Jerry Goessel, the executive director of the Vermont chap-ter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, wrote to the Shelburne-based company. "The marketing use of a straight jacket…sends a message to the general public that is contradictory to treating persons with illness as persons first."
He asked that the $70 bear be pulled from the company's shelves immediately.
The complaint is the first received about the bear by the company, which first began selling the 15-inch stuffed animal days ago. Vermont Teddy Bear spokeswoman Nicole L'Huillier said that the company is taking Goessel's concerns seriously, and any decision on whether to drop the bear from its offerings was to be made by today.
"We in no way are trying to ridicule or make fun of people with mental illnesses," L'Huillier said. "The bear is meant to express the sentiment of how someone might feel about someone else around Valentine's Day."
According to a description of the bear on the company's Web site, "this bear is a great gift for someone you're crazy about. He even comes with a 'Commitment Report' stating, 'Can't eat, can't sleep, my heart's racing. Diagnosis – crazy for you.'"
Vermont Teddy Bear, the 20-year-old company famous for its Bear-Grams, sells more than 450,000 bears a year, and many of its offerings tend toward the off-beat. Its reputation for cuddly, furry stuffed friends has made its factory tour one of the state's most popular tourist destinations and its products are sold around the world.
The "Crazy for You Bear" is sold with the admonition, "Trust us. She'll go nuts over this bear!"
She may, but the state's mental health community thinks the whole thing is in poor taste.
"A straitjacket is not a symbol that we want to associate with sales of a teddy bear for loved ones over Valentines Day," Goessel said in a phone interview. "And the use of commitment papers, legal documents committing an individual to involuntary treatment, is not something to be taken casually."
Some 12,000 Vermont adults are considered seriously mentally ill, according to Goessel's organization, and many thousands more are affected by it.
"Fortunately, there are fewer and fewer items of this type that discriminate against persons with mental illness," he said. "It is so striking when we do come across it."
Goessel said that he has support for removal of the bear from other mental health advocates. In his letter, he asked the company to stop selling the bear immediately. "Your products have long been associated with quality, caring and comfort," the letter said. "To continue to market this particular item undermines that integrity."
The company acknowledged that it was concerned about making people uncomfortable. "We have received the letter, and we know that this is becoming an issue," L'Huillier said. The matter will be reviewed with company chief executive officer Elizabeth Robert this morning, L'Huillier said, adding, "We mean no disrespect to those with mental illnesses."
Contact Darren Allen at darren.allen@rutlandherald.com.
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