By Golly! Are we too PC?

Early this year a gift shop owner on Waiheke Island was called a racist, for selling golliwogs.

The owner of the store, Kat, says she explains to customers that golliwogs are an English thing.

“They started off as talismans in England. They were based on chimney sweeps, and chimney sweeps were actually white people.”

Kat believes there are “more important things for people to get offended about” than golliwogs.

“As far as I’m concerned society has just gotten far too PC.”

Golliwogs are well and truly victims of the PC brigade. These dolls, which had become enormously popular by the mid-20th century, second only to teddy bears, were declared a symbol of racism by activists in the 1960s. The British jam manufacturer James Robertson & Sons, which had adopted the golliwog as a company mascot in 1910, along with a slogan, ‘Golly it’s Good,’ was eventually forced to drop its use in 2001. Over time the company issued some 20 million golliwog badges as part of its marketing strategy, badges that are now highly sought after by collectors of memorabilia.

Children’s author Enid Blyton wrote about golliwogs between 1949 and 1963 in her series of 24 Noddy books. The books were translated into 27 different languages, with more than 200 million copies sold. However, under pressure from militant campaigners, the publishers were forced to replace the golliwog characters in later editions.

So while golliwogs were once regarded simply as much-loved and slightly mischievous dolls, they are now portrayed by activists as symbols of abuse that they say humiliate and intimidate black people. That’s also the view being taken by the Human Rights Commission, which has become a key driver of political correctness in New Zealand. In response to the fracas over the golliwogs in the Waiheke store, a spokeswoman claimed that they are “racist caricatures that dehumanise black people”. She said that New Zealanders who think selling golliwogs is OK “need a wake-up call”.

In spite of what she says, the sale or public display of golliwogs in New Zealand is not against the law. While the Human Rights Act does outlaw “inciting racial disharmony,” the threshold is high, and selling golliwogs — or golly dolls, as some are now calling them — does not breach the threshold.

The golliwog debacle serves to demonstrate just how politicised and sensitive society has become. Nowadays it appears that everyone feels they have to be extremely careful about what they say or do, lest they offend the sensitivities of others, and are victimised by activists promoting a cause.

"While golliwogs were once regarded simply as much-loved and slightly mischievous dolls, they are now portrayed by activists as symbols of abuse that they say humiliate and intimidate black people."