Ebola plush toys, educational tools created by a Connecticut company as a way for adults to explain the deadly disease to children, are all sold out.
Giantmicrobes, Inc. is completely out of the Ebola stuffed toys, modeled after the microbe, the company said on its website. Among the top buyers of the Ebola plush toys? The World Health Organization, the American Red Cross, and
pharmaceutical companies, Reuters reported.
"Since its discovery in 1976, Ebola has become the T. Rex of microbes," Giantmicrobes said on its website.
"There's nothing like a bunch of panicky people freaked out about a global
health issue to give your business a boost," The Consumerist noted. "That is, if you happen to be in the niche industry of selling giant, plush toy microbes. The company behind fuzzy Black Death and adorable Listeria has been doing gangbusters business with its Ebola toys, now that everyone is convinced we’re all getting Ebola (we are not)."
According to the company's website, Giantmicrobes began as a startup educational company in 2002, creating plush dolls representing the common cold, flu, sore throat, and stomach aches to sell to a multinational corporation with distribution on five continents.
Some on social media questioned selling the fuzzy Ebola toys, even for educational purposes.