Health

Spain gift shop cashes in, raises charity funds with Covid cuddly toys

By Ana Gonzalez

La Coruña, Spain, Jan 5 (efe-epa).- At a shop in the northwestern Spanish city of La Coruña, coronavirus is on the shelves — in the form of a plush toy, as part of a charitable initiative that sees some of the profits going to the NGO Save the Children.

At ‘La Liada’, Covid-19 is not the only virus being embodied as a cuddly toy: the Ebola virus is also for sale, as well as Mono (infectious mononucleosis).

Selling these kinds of alternative plush toys isn’t new for La Liada, as they already stocked ones prior to the pandemic; “we already had microbes and diseases”, store owner, Lía Gimeno, tells Efe.

“People were really happy about it, especially those working in the fields of science, medicine, biology…,” she says.

Coronavirus has changed the way many retailers operate, forcing them to adapt to the ever-changing conditions and rules of the pandemic.

For this year’s most unusual holiday period, this toy store wanted to stock a gift which shows solidarity amid a pandemic that has heavily affected Spain as well as the rest of the globe.

The Covid-19 soft toy has become a popular choice, and few remain on the shelves ahead of King’s Day, Spain’s main gift-giving festival on January 6.

Gimeno’s wide range of dolls and plush toys has always contained germs of various designs, and given the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the opportunity to stock the ubiquitous coronavirus could not be missed.

The number of global cases now exceeds 85 million with nearly two millions deaths, according to John Hopkins University.

Related Articles

Back to top button