‘A is for Ass’: Temu flashcards give Hawke’s Bay mum and toddler a cheeky surprise
The "A is for ass" card found in a pack of flashcards Loren Cudd bought for her toddler from Temu.
A Central Hawke’s Bay mother got a cheeky surprise when purchasing flash cards online to help her son’s linguistic skills.
Loren Cudd and husband Fred Saleib own and operate Waipukurau’s Crave Baking Co and have two sons, Ramzi, 11, and Izayah, 3.
Izayah is non-verbal autistic and the family are on a journey teaching him how to speak using flashcards – picture cards featuring word prompts on one side and answers on the other.
Cudd said Izayah was doing well with reading, but was not yet speaking.
She usually buys sets of flashcards from $2 shops and The Warehouse.
But, like many Kiwis looking to save during the cost-of-living crisis, Cudd made a call to this time purchase flashcards online from Temu.
When the pack arrived, Cudd and Izayah were working through the pack, learning about body parts.
Then one peculiar card appeared.
“I got ass,” Cudd said.
The picture card showed a nude baby on its front with an arrow pointing to its posterior and the word ass.
“If I’m honest, it was pretty funny,” Cudd said.
“It was a bit unexpected.”
She said in another of the flashcard packs she’d bought from the website was an even more bemusing match-up: “X for xylitol gum”.
“I had to Google that, I didn’t even know what the hell xylitol gum was.”
A Temu spokesperson said the company had initiated an internal review and would take “appropriate action”, including removing the product if it was found to violate its policies.
The spokesperson said Temu customers could apply for refunds for “items that are not as described or are defective” via the company’s customer service portal.
But the cheeky flashcard hadn’t put Cudd off using Temu.
“I love a bit of Temu,” she said.
“Honestly, I enjoyed it. It was good for a laugh. You pay $2 for a pack of cards; you get what you get.
“I think everybody has a Temu story. You’ve ordered a shirt and it’s come in; instead of being an adult size, it’s a children’s size. So, it’s common.”
The card now resides on the family’s fridge as a conversation piece, with Ramzi enjoying the family’s new artwork the most.
“He loves a bit of potty talk, as most young boys do,” Cudd said.
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in the UK, Germany, and New Zealand.