Perfect Polly
Perfect Polly was pitched as a lifelike animatronic parakeet for lonely bird lovers who couldn’t handle real pet care. Clipped to a plastic perch, Polly chirps and shakes her head whenever a nearby sound triggers her hidden sensor. Commercials showed seniors cooing back at the motionless budgie, convinced they’d found feathered companionship without the mess, noise, or tragic flush-down-the-toilet endings of real birds.
But Polly’s charm flies away quickly. The cheap plastic body looks and feels more like a happy-meal toy than a convincing pet, and the repetitive electronic chirp can drive housemates mad. Worse, the motion sensor is hypersensitive, meaning every cough, microwave ding, or door slam sends Polly into spasm. Owners inevitably silence her with a switch—creating, ironically, an even quieter house than before they bought her. Perfect Polly is a lesson in why companionship is rarely as easy as replacing batteries.
