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Strollerderby
Today’s shopping tip: buy your daughter a dark-skinned Barbie. The African-American beauties can be had for a song–at least at Walmart. Prices of the black dolls have been found in some stores to be cut way, way back–down to less than half of the white dolls.
Have you seen the new African-American Barbies? I haven’t. But according to this Broadsheet post, the dolls are generating much discussion from parents of all races.
See, the dolls, unlike Barbies of old, are designed to reflect the way black women actually look, versus the old Barbies which were exactly the same as the white ones but made out of dark brown plastic and topped with the same long, straight hair in black instead of blonde. Doll designer Stacy McBride-Irby drew inspiration from her own young daughters for the dolls, which have wider noses and fuller lips.
Some parents think the dolls don’t go far enough, especially in terms of hair. Continue reading »
Back in 1967, Mattel came out with their first so-called African-American Barbie doll. Her name was Colored Francie and other than her hair and skin color, she looked exactly like the white Francie doll. Since that time, the toy company hasn’t done much better in creating a Barbie doll that African-American girls could identify with. But last month, Mattel gave it another shot with the debut of three new black Barbie friends: Grace, Kara and Trichelle. Did they get it right this time? Continue reading »
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