Got Lemons? Make Lemonade

Amidst all the depressing economic news of late, it’s like a breath of spring when a related news article elicits a hearty laugh.

The rage of this week’s 2009 Toy Fair at New York City’s Jacob Javits Convention Center was the Smash-Me Bernie doll, a $99.95 devil-suited, pitchfork-wielding effigy of legendary swindler Bernard Madoff.  The doll is accessorized with a gold commemorative hammer, all the easier to vent some frustration.

The doll’s maker is Phoenix-based Mini-Me ModelWorks, which creates custom-made dolls made of a tough plastic resin.  According to Graeme Warring, the company’s president, he decided to make the doll after a friend lost money in Madoff’s alleged Ponzi scheme.  So far, Warring has more than 1,000 orders for the Smash-Me Bernie doll.