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A viral stress-relief toy known as "Natasha" has sparked widespread controversy in China after videos showing users smashing, stomping on, piercing and otherwise "abusing" the baby-shaped toy spread across social media platforms.

According to the China Youth Daily, a growing number of primary and secondary schools across the country have issued notices banning the toy from campuses. As of Saturday, several major e-commerce platforms had removed promotional videos that marketed the product with violent content. However, some sellers were still using images of clenched fists and violence-oriented slogans to advertise the toy.

Sun Hongyan, a researcher at the China Youth & Children Research Center, a national institution specializing in youth and adolescent work research, warned that based on observational learning theory, children and adolescents could internalize behaviors by observing and imitating others. Violent ways of playing with the toy may be perceived by youth as entertaining and could normalize aggressive behaviors among young people, Sun said.

Sun noted that the toy's baby-like appearance amplifies its potential negative impact. Baby dolls symbolize vulnerable lives that deserve care and protection. As minors are still developing moral judgment, marketing messages such as "the harder you throw it, the more stress you relieve," combined with social media algorithms rewarding increasingly extreme content, may lead some young people to believe that bullying the weak is acceptable, gradually blurring their moral boundaries, according to Sun.

Yu Xukun, Executive Director of Beijing Children's Legal Aid and Research Center, also cautioned that repeated exposure to simulated violence in interaction with such toys could become psychological preparation for real-world aggression under certain circumstances.

"In cases we have handled, some children who suffered domestic violence came to believe that violence could solve problems and later directed such violence toward others, eventually facing legal consequences," Yu said.

Fang Zengquan, professor at School of Journalism and Communication at Beijing Normal University and director of the Center for Minors' Digital Literacy, criticized the marketing strategy behind the toy.

"Linking a baby-shaped toy directly to stress relief and promoting it with slogans such as 'Squeezing a baby is more stress-relieving than raising one' essentially turns the image of an infant into a gimmick," Fang said. "It encourages users, particularly adolescents, to derive pleasure from physically squeezing, pinching and deforming the toy, treating babies as objects for emotional release or entertainment."

Fang warned that repeatedly associating infant imagery with destructive behavior could weaken young people's empathy and protective instincts toward real babies and, in extreme cases, foster unconscious aggressive impulses toward living beings.

On June 1, the China Consumers Association (CCA) stated that violent and sexually suggestive marketing videos related to the toy may violate the law. According to the association, some sellers have posed the toy in sexually suggestive positions and paired it with ambiguous captions or adult-themed props, while others have used violent treatment of the toy to attract traffic and attention.

The CCA said such practices use vulgarity and violence as marketing gimmicks, run counter to core socialist values, violate the principles of common moral code, and can breach laws and regulations including the Cybersecurity Law and the Advertising Law.

The CCA urged businesses, platforms, schools and families not to allow "stress relief" to become a cover for violence or permit internet traffic to reward vulgar content.

Stress-relief toys are fundamentally products for emotional and self-oriented consumption, the CCA said, adding that all parties should work together to foster healthy and sustainable emotional-consumption environments. Online platforms should fulfill their gatekeeping responsibilities by removing and banning content involving violence, pornography and other materials that violate public morality. Manufacturers and sellers should abide by laws and regulations, ensure their products are both entertaining and safe. Meanwhile, families and schools should help minors develop healthy ways to manage stress and identify harmful online content.

Global Times