I wasn’t sure how to tackle this because I really don’t want to jump onto an Internet rumour hobbyhorse that later proves embarrassingly hoaxish. But my source is a level headed individual I know and I respect, and Snopes.com has nothing on it, so here goes:

It appears ToysRUs is stocking a toy ouija board. Said board is manufactured by Hasbro. It’s aimed at little girls, so it’s pink and frilly.

This is so far from a good idea that the light from a good idea will take several million years to reach it. And that’s just the pink and frilly. I also have deeper objections. The reliable source I was talking about is the proprietor of a witchcraft shop in Glastonbury (don’t ask) and they think it’s a really dumb idea too. [What they have to say about it.]

Another site even has a picture of the thing, looking disturbingly like something from the back of an Ann Summers shop (I mean, ahem, I would guess) but aimed at girls aged 8+. Clicking on that page’s product link to ToysRUs now gets a “not found” page, but search there for “oujia boards” and you do still get a glow-in-the-dark one, which is presumably for boys.

Boycott ToysRUs? Boycott Hasbro? Write to the Times, your vicar, your youth pastor? Pray hard? Write to Richard Dawkins? I don’t really know: I leave it up to you. There is a boycott Hasbro page, but having seen some of the comments there … Hmm. Even though I know the speaker is ultimately on the same side as me, the low-church Protestant in me does find sentiments like “St Joseph, slayer of demons protect us, St Michael, St Gabriel, St Raphael protect us, St Anthony protect us” to be not entirely different to the problem being discussed in the first place. But that may just be me.