Aaron Paul has taken the fight to keep Breaking Bad action figures on Toys R Us shelves to everyone’s favorite battleground: Twitter.
A few weeks ago, a Florida Mom named Susan Schrivjer decided that it was inappropriate for Toys R Us to sell action figures based on characters of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad. “It’s about drugs, you’re selling it in a children’s toy store?” She told her local Fox 4 TV Station.
She also started an online petition on Change.org which gained 9,298 signatures. Because of this, Toys R Us pulled the action figures from their shelves, saying they had gone on “an indefinite sabbatical”, according to ABC News.
Aaron Paul would not stand for this.
Wait, so @ToysRUs pulled all of the Breaking Bad figures from their shelves and still sells Barbie? Hmmmm…I wonder what is more damaging?
— Aaron Paul (@aaronpaul_8) October 23, 2014
He’s not wrong. According to Professor of Psychology Aurora M. Sherman of Oregon State University, “Playing with Barbie has an effect on girls’ ideas about their place in the world. It creates a limit on the sense of what’s possible for their future. While it’s not a massive effect, it is a measurable and statistically significant effect.”
And what about all of the violent video games you sell @ToysRUs ? Do you still sell those? Florida mom really messed it up for everyone.
— Aaron Paul (@aaronpaul_8) October 23, 2014
Another petition has started on Change.org to keep the action figures on Toys R Us shelves. As of this writing, it now has 57,885 supporters, which is more than six times the number who signed the petition to get rid of the toys.
As for Aaron Paul, he’s currently waiting for a response from Toys R Us:
Dear @ToysRUs,
We have close to 30,000 signed on the petition, that is 3 times the amount that caused you to remove the toys.
Talk to me.
Ap
— Aaron Paul (@aaronpaul_8) October 24, 2014