'Market bans my babies!'
A SWANSEA market trader was asked to leave her pitch within hours for selling 'offensive' lifelike dolls.
Simone Guard set up a table selling dolls which bear a striking likeness to real babies.
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Simone Guard with one of the baby dolls. BT021209F-007
But the 29-year-old claims she was asked to leave shortly after setting up her stall when a fellow market trader made a complaint to management because they found the dolls offensive.
Miss Guard said: "I set up my pitch up and within hours I was approached by two of the market managers.
"They had had a complaint from one of the stall holders and others had jumped on the band wagon and agreed they didn't like the baby dolls and they wanted me out."
Miss Guard makes the dolls herself under the name of Bluebell Baby and sells them on for anything from £150 to £500.
The dolls are handmade collectors items known as Reborn and can be customised to feature voice boxes, breathing movements and heat pads.
Miss Guard said: "The stall was perfect for me.
"I thought I could run the stall and allow people to pay on a weekly basis to make it easier to spread the cost.
"It would have been ideal because they could have come every Friday."
She admitted some people find the dolls 'a bit creepy' but said: "There is a world of difference between something you don't like and something that is offensive to you.
"Some people were fascinated by them.
"I had crowds around me.
"Whether people do or don't like them, some people were coming back three or four times."
New businesses at the market are usually vetted by existing traders but in this case a Swansea Council spokesman said the 'timing of the application was wrong' and Miss Guard's application was determined 'elsewhere'.
The local authority has now apologised to Miss Guard for the inconvenience caused.
A Swansea Council spokesperson said: "We encourage local traders to display their goods at Swansea Market as much as possible but in doing so we have to take on board the views and concerns of members of the public and existing traders.
"A number of people approached market staff on the day Miss Guard was trading at the market to raise concerns about the dolls and the matter was quickly resolved.
"We apologised to Ms Guard for any inconvenience caused and she wasn't charged for the time she spent trading at the market."
rupert.hall@swwmedia.co.uk
37 Comments
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by Lynn Young, Camborne, Cornwall
Thursday, December 10 2009, 8:35AM
“OMG what is wrong with people. I really can't believe this. I too am a fellow reborner and love the art and extreme hard work that goes into each and every reborn doll. YES doll afterall this is what they are. If people were offended by these then this lady is obviously very good at her work and her dedication to this art form. People are just so narrow minded. I can't believe it.
Lynn Cornwall”
by John, Swansea
Tuesday, December 08 2009, 10:03PM
“I have seen these dolls at the Market and I don't know why anyone would object they looked quite cute. They weren't lined up on a counter as the last person said. They were arranged thoughtfully in realistic baby positions.”
by Lois, Swansea
Tuesday, December 08 2009, 8:10PM
“I do appreciate enterprise and I don't know why the complaint was made..however, these dolls are supposed to look lifelike, and as they are inanimate, they do look like dead babies. Maybe someone was upset by seeing them. I do know someone who created a doll in the image of her dead child and has taken comfort from it. I also appreciate they are collectables. But maybe, someone who has lost a child , perhaps recently, felt that physical reaction from seeing them and complained. I don't know, just that there is more than one side to any argument. Having seen a baby die, I know I have previously felt a physical panic in seeing one. Just putting a word out for the shock value that their realism may cause. Online specialist shopping is one thing, having them lined up on a market table maybe isn't the right market place, so to speak.”
by Enid Wood, High Peak
Tuesday, December 08 2009, 3:05PM
“I can't believe what I am reading. If stall holders can't cope with the competition, as the saying goes,' If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.'
It should be these people who should pack up and go home. I now know where to avoid when next in Swansea, and hope others follow suit.
This is an art form, that brings pleasure to a lot of people. I don't like lots of things, but I defend the peoples right to produce and sell them.
Enid Wood SK13”
by Simone Guard ~ Bluebell Baby, Swansea
Monday, December 07 2009, 10:07PM
“I just want to say:
THANK YOU!
To everyone for your support & encouragement.
You have all lifted my spirit!
I just hope my story will help to stop other small start up businesses, from facing this kind of treatment.”