A Danish MP’s toy monkey business is facing scrutiny over sales techniques that consumer-law experts consider potentially misleading. Allan Feldt, a newly elected member of the Danish Parliament (Folketinget) for the Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkeparti), co-owns an online shop selling elastic toy gorillas with his son.
The webshop, Monkeworld.com, previously used countdown timers and purchase notifications to encourage customers to buy the toy. According to an investigation by TV 2, experts in Denmark and the USA said some of these practices could breach consumer-protection rules.
Several customers have also written online that they paid for a gorilla but never received it. Allan and Frederik Feldt dispute the broader allegations and say they intend to comply with all applicable legislation.
How the Danish MP’s toy monkey business worked
Monkeworld.com is operated by PT Toy ApS, a company in which Allan Feldt owns a 51 percent majority stake. His son Frederik Feldt owns the remaining 49 percent. Both are registered as directors.
The company sells an elastic toy gorilla that can be stretched, compressed and thrown against a surface until it becomes flat. The product was advertised for DKK 196 (€26) as part of a limited-time offer.
A countdown timer warned visitors that only a few hours remained before the offer expired. TV 2 found that when the timer reached zero, the price did not change. Refreshing the page simply restarted the countdown.
The website also displayed recurring notifications claiming that customers in different parts of the USA had just bought a gorilla. Names including Sarah from Ohio, David from New York and Matt from California appeared repeatedly.
Experts describe the techniques as dark patterns
Marie Frank-Nielsen, a senior legal adviser at the Danish Consumer Council (Forbrugerrådet Tænk), described the techniques as dark patterns. The term refers to website designs that steer or manipulate users towards decisions they might not otherwise make.
According to Frank-Nielsen, the timer and notifications could make consumers believe they needed to complete their purchase immediately.
Denmark’s Consumer Ombudsman (Forbrugerombudsmanden) told TV 2 that these types of methods are generally considered misleading and can therefore violate the Danish Marketing Practices Act (Markedsføringsloven).
Allan and Frederik Feldt said the webshop had not sold gorillas in Denmark since “2024 or 2025” and was now focused on the American market.
Following questions from TV 2, the company changed the address displayed on its website from Frederiksberg to Broadway in New York City. References to Denmark and Danish legislation were also removed from the terms and conditions.
Selling only in the USA does not avoid regulation
American legal experts said directing the shop exclusively towards the USA would not exempt it from consumer-protection rules.
Rebecca Tushnet, a professor at Harvard Law School who specialises in false advertising, told TV 2 that the disputed techniques would also be considered misleading in the USA.
William E. Kovacic, a professor at George Washington University Law School and a former senior official at the Federal Trade Commission, said the practices could be challenged under federal consumer-protection rules or the laws of individual states.
The Federal Trade Commission has previously warned that false countdown timers, concealed conditions and misleading interfaces can pressure consumers into purchases.
“If the website’s owners believe they are exempt from potential liability simply because they exclusively target American consumers, they are definitely mistaken,” Kovacic told TV 2.
Customers say their gorillas never arrived
Monkeworld presented itself on its website as having a rating of 4.9 out of five stars. Visitors could not open the reviews or verify where they had originally been published.
Its Trustpilot profile showed a different picture at the time of TV 2’s investigation. The shop had a rating of 2.2 stars, while 84 percent of reviewers had awarded it only one star.
Several reviewers described the business as a scam and claimed they had paid for products that never arrived. These are customer allegations and do not in themselves establish wrongdoing by the company.
One customer, Maria Agnethe Andersen, told TV 2 that she ordered a gorilla in 2024 after her family saw the product in a YouTube video. She said the payment was processed, but the toy was not delivered and the company initially did not answer her emails.
Andersen eventually contacted Frederik Feldt directly and received a refund.
Allan and Frederik Feldt said the dissatisfied Trustpilot reviewers had never been customers of Monkeworld. Frederik Feldt also maintained that the reviews displayed on the company’s website were genuine and had been gathered through ecommerce platforms including Loox, Judge.me and Shopify.
TV 2 said it had examined messages between Andersen and Frederik Feldt in which the company repeatedly apologised for the failure to deliver her order.
Feldt says the website will be checked
Allan Feldt said his son had been responsible for the company’s website, social-media accounts and marketing. He explained that he had become a company director because Frederik was still attending upper-secondary school when the business was established.
“We naturally want and must always comply with all rules and legislation, and your inquiry has led me to ask Frederik to check everything so that the site complies with all rules and legislation,” Feldt wrote to TV 2.
Frederik Feldt subsequently removed the countdown timer and purchase notifications “as a precaution”.
Kovacic said removing the features would not necessarily end any potential liability connected to their previous use. Authorities could require the company to promise not to use similar techniques again. In more serious cases, it could be ordered to reimburse consumers who made purchases on a misleading basis.
From successful entrepreneur to Danish MP
Allan Feldt has represented the Danish People’s Party in the Copenhagen constituency since 24 March 2026, according to his official parliamentary profile.
Before entering parliament, he had a long career as an entrepreneur. He founded the bottled-water company Aqua d’Or and sold it in 2015 for a nine-figure sum in Danish kroner.
Feldt entered politics presenting his business experience as one of his main qualifications. He was initially appointed as the Danish People’s Party spokesperson on entrepreneurship, digitalisation, artificial intelligence and research. His official parliamentary profile now lists him as the party’s spokesperson on digitalisation.
The party removed several of his spokesperson roles in June following separate controversies surrounding posts he had shared on social media.
No Danish or American authority has been reported as formally ruling that Monkeworld or its directors broke the law. The case nevertheless raises broader questions about online marketing, political accountability and the use of dark patterns by ecommerce businesses targeting consumers across borders.
