The toy, marketed as educational, may teach your children a lot more than you want them to learn, as a female in Brampton, Ontario, discovered the hard way. mimicking cactus toy  The miniature, bright-green dancing cactus Ania Tanner bought sings in English, Spanish and Polish while squirming to the beat. After buying it on her behalf granddaughter, Tanner discovered that among the songs in its repertoire was an explicit tune about cocaine and hopelessness.

“​​It just so happens that I am Polish, and when I started to hear the songs and I heard the words … I was in shock,” she told CTV News. “I believed: what's this, some sort of joke?”

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The gyrating succulent performs a tune called Gdzie Jest Biały Węgorz? (Zejście), or Where May be the White Eel? (Descent), whose opening lyrics are, based on various online translations: “The only thing within my head is five grams of cocaine / Fly away alone, to the edge of oblivion.” Later lines include swearing, graphic imagery and references to depression.

A representative for the rapper, Cypis, says he'd “no idea” the song was being used in a kids' toy. “He's disgusted,” the spokesman, Zbigniew Florek, said.

Walmart has since removed the listing for the toy. “These products are sold by a third-party seller on our marketplace website. We are removing the things while we look into this complaint further,” the organization told CTV.

It's not the first time the matter has been raised. Reports in July described a Polish-speaking woman in Taiwan who bought the toy and had a similar experience.

Dancing cactus toys have existed since at the least December 2020. Since that time, countless similar items have popped up, and remain available, on Amazon and Alibaba – although it's not yet determined whether early versions contained the Polish song.

Amazon declined to comment. Alibaba did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Who manufactures the things is unclear. They are attributed to a number of sellers, and the overwhelming level of cacti points to an apparent dropshipping operation.

Dropshippers seek out cheap products – such as for example dancing cacti or talking plush hamsters – that they think could possibly be big hits. They then behave as middlemen between suppliers and buyers, hoping their items is going to be popular. Several items result from China. Often, the merchandise exist there long before dropshippers swoop in.

In the event of the dancing cactus, the dropshippers appear to possess gotten their wish. The toys are exremely popular and have also gone viral on TikTok, where people have posted videos of men and women dancing with the cacti and babies reaching the toys.

The most recent controversy may leave some parents feeling prickly about the cactus. For others, however, the song seems to have develop into a selling point. “Gets the Polish song,” says one five-star Amazon review. “Sings ... a Polish song about cocaine use. 10/10 would buy for my 1 year old again,” writes another reviewer.