History Toys / MyFriendCayla

My Friend Cayla was a line of 18-inch dolls invented by Bob Delprincipe and sold by Genesis Toys. The doll is similar in size and proportions to the likes of an [[Literature/AmericanGirlsCollection American Girl]] doll, but her main selling point is her Internet of Things capabilities, basically making Cayla a Toys/ChattyCathy on steroids. At her core, Cayla is nothing more than a Bluetooth speaker stuffed into a doll, but through a companion mobile app, one could have [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtGf8FUq9mY a conversation]], ask questions and have the doll tell a story to its owner as if she were a real person. Which sounds cute on paper...

The resulting controversy [[MedalOfDishonor led to the doll's inclusion in the Museum of Failure traveling exhibition]], where similar failed products and services which were either commercial failures or are controversial in their own right are on display, and one of the dolls is exhibited alongside the likes of a copy of ''VideoGame/NoMansSky''[[note]][[VindicatedByHistory While the game's reception did improve over time]], it was initially critically panned for various reasons and failed promises, hence its inclusion.[[/note]] and an UsefulNotes/NGage, highlighting some of the notable failures in the tech industry. Another example was donated by a concerned German mother to the German Spy Museum in Berlin, marking the first time a toy was included in the exhibit.

* ObviousBeta: The concept works at least in principle, except that Cayla's inventor, Bob Delprincipe, forgot to have her [[CrazyPrepared hardened and secured]] in as many ways as possible especially for an Internet-connected device aimed towards children. Since the doll is by all intents and purposes a Bluetooth speaker, one could connect to her and make her say less-than-savoury things or eavesdrop on unwitting children, especially with the doll's Bluetooth stack being (alarmingly) insecure. There is '''no pairing security''' with the doll, allowing an attacker with a rigged app to connect to a target Cayla doll--it is possible to hack the companion app, [[https://www.pentestpartners.com/security-blog/making-childrens-toys-swear/ modify its speech database]] by adding profanities and other nasty things, and sideload it back to a phone or tablet. A number of [=IoT=]-enabled toys have been slammed by watchdog and cybersecurity groups for failing to account for children's security, one of them being [=CloudPets=] who fell victim to a data breach of children's private information and was harshly criticised for failing to respond to inquiries, at best advising parents to change their passwords.

* PrincessPhase: Asking Cayla about her preferences would make her state that her favourite colour is pink and she likes to pretend to be a princess. She would also state that her favourite movie is Disney’s ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'' and her favourite song is "Let it Go" from ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'', something which would later be used in a [[https://epic.org/privacy/kids/EPIC-IPR-FTC-Genesis-Complaint.pdf complaint]] by [[MoralGuardians watchdog groups]] alleging that the toy violated COPPA and espoused pervasive commercialism.

* PrincessPhase: Asking Cayla about her preferences would make her state that her favourite colour is pink and she likes to pretend to be a princess. She would also state that her favourite movie is Disney’s ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid'' and her favourite song is "Let it Go" from ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'', something which would later be used in a [[https://epic.org/privacy/kids/EPIC-IPR-FTC-Genesis-Complaint.pdf complaint]] by [[MoralGuardians watchdog groups]] alleging that the toy violated COPPA and espoused pervasive commercialism.

* EverythingIsOnline: Even a doll such as this has been made to connect to the cloud, scraping answers from Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} and various other references.

* CompanionCube: Taken UpToEleven as Cayla can converse with her owner in some way rather than be just an inanimate doll.

* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Being a talking doll who is able to scrape various sources for facts, she is naturally this.
* YouCanPanicNow: In fairness, media coverage of the doll tends to lean on this. While Cayla has been proven to be insecure and vulnerable to attack by unsavoury elements e.g. [[PaedoHunt pedophiles]] and [[BigBrotherBully bullies]], it is easy to forget that there are other safety issues children are facing besides smart toys and the internet, and it all boils down to responsible parenting which some mums and dads seem to forget in this day and age, hence why kids are unwittingly exposed to YouTubeKidsChannel[=s=] and the like.

The resulting controversy [[MedalOfDishonor led to the doll's inclusion in the Museum of Failure traveling exhibition]], where similar failed products and services which were either commercial failures or are controversial in their own right are on display, and one of the dolls is exhibited alongside the likes of a copy of ''VideoGame/NoMansSky''[[note]][[VindicatedByHistory While the game's reception did improve over time]], [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece it was initially critically panned for various reasons and failed promises, hence its inclusion]].[[/note]] and an UsefulNotes/NGage, highlighting some of the notable failures in the tech industry. Another example was donated by a concerned German mother to the German Spy Museum in Berlin, marking the first time a toy was included in the exhibit.