Madison Avenue wants cute little black girls, can't find them

oh my.

really?? dolls??

personally.... it's sad that it takes electing a half-black President to make industries (ie: modeling) notice black Americans (sry if that's un pc.... i am not trying to be ignorant).

i mean yeah it's awesome he was elected don't get me wrong.... but that shouldn't have been the catalyst.... albeit if there were a said catalyst.... the election works.

purrito >' '<

On the one hand, I think that having more people of color in advertisements is a cultural aspect that this administration will affect. And that I think is a good thing. However I do find it sad that it took Barack Obama being elected to change this dynamic in our country when anyone with a brain realizes that America has never been all white. 

On the subject of Ty and their obvious exploitation of Obama's daughters: I personally find that particular development to be sick and shallow. It is an obvious tell all of how obsessed this country is with consumerism and capitalizing off of anything and anyone no matter how inappropriate. And for that reason, I commend Michelle Obama for condemning Ty for pulling that stunt. 

Who is that Sasha is cradling in the last pic?  Is that Thingette Obama?

;-)

Until it trickles down or up into Corporate America or even onto the streets of the USA it just a marketing ploy by Madison Avenue.  My brother married a Black American female who is a defense attorney by career.  They live in Texas and have a bi-racial 10 year old female daughter, and the stares still come in passing after President O'bama has taken over this mess of 8 years of a failed policy.  So shame on Madison Avenue for being an opportunist of current events and for exploiting Barack's children for greed and profit.

www.myspace.com/lunakiss7.com

Oh wait didn't we see this when Supermodel Naomi Campbell popped into the scene with her "exotic" (not my term so don't hound me for this usage. I'm using it to emphaize a point not to start a debate) looks:dark smooth chocolate skin, slanted eyes(Jamacian-Chinese descent), tall and sexy walk and oh let's not forget her full lips.  This what ad/model/toy world were looking for at that time.

I grew up watching ads have people of color who are "exotic" looking aka the multi-racial looking or don't quite fit into the racial box category of (you name it). They would be the first to get cast in ads and tv shows. How  do I know? My bother got approached  by model photographer when he was living in Houston,Tx in 2000 while standing outside a nightclub who mistaken as a Morrocoan and not Black. I told him after the fact he got reeled in b/c they were looking for "exotic' models,another sick consumerism ad world wave happening at that time. Also I heard  and read things that these industries were doing.

 It's sick disease consumerism. Anybody got a remedy for this  racial/ hue consumerism?

Back to the issue at hand:

 Did it  really take the popularity of the Obama girls to make the ad world take a look at little black girls as beautiful which to have always been beautiful?

 I worship Mrs.Obama aka Boss Lady for being an advocate, a mother and protector. Does this mean the toy world will make more black darker skin dolls that seem to be forgotten overtime.

And to answer Sarah warn's question, yes we truly have  a long,long,long,long way to go in achieving racial and hue(skin color) equality.

A line taken from my poem "She" It is SHE who awakens my soul..."

thefemininedivine.blogspot.com

My ex and I "joked" last month saying now that Michelle Obama is the the First Lady, Black Women will finally be the new..well, black.

For years now she and I always talked about how unless there was a token and/or stereotypical Black female character, we were hard to come by in mainstream advertising, marketing, and especially television. 

We talked about it extensively in my Women's Studies and Black Women in America courses a few years ago. The totem pole, underappreciation, inflated longstanding stereotypes, etc. I'm sure you [should] know the history and events.

It's a bittersweet moment but it's very very unsettling to be right. 

In my opinion, it'll also, realistically, be very fleeting. 

That actually does sound kinda hard.  I mean, it would have been just as hard to find a model that looked just like Chelsea Clinton...and actually I don't quite get why they want ones that look just like them, that's kind of creepy.

It doesn't sound like this really is them realizing that they can have black models in general sell products, so it doesn't sound too far thinking.

Ads pretty much suck in general, but I guess at least they should suck with well-represented minorities in them if they have to exist....

I totally agree with you Sarah. I was in a store this holiday season shopping in the toys section for my nephews. A black woman was in the doll section looking at the Cabbage Patch Dolls and all that was there was dimpled white doll faces staring back. The woman asked the clerk if there were any black Cabbage Patch dolls. The clerk told the woman that the store only did them through special order and black Cabbage Patch Dolls were considered a "specialty" item because they sold so few of them. The poor woman that was shopping looked crushed, and rightfully so. In the 21st century, a black doll is STILL considered a specialty item. 

That being said. Little girls of ANY shade are not dolls, and while it is wonderful that advertisment is trying to "diversify," it shouldn't be used as an excuse to objectify and catagorize girls so that they can grow up to expect to be objectified, catagorized women. 

That study of children's reactions to black or white dolls is really disturbing to me. It makes me feel odd, though, because I'm blonde, blue-eyed and pale, and when I was a little girl, I had Barbie's little sister Kelly and a whole gaggle of little Kelly friends. But little blonde Kelly often got ignored in favour of red-haired Chelsea, brown-haired Nicole and especially dark-skinned Keeya and Marissa. Right from when I was little, I always thought dark-haired, dark-skinned people were much prettier than blondes- mostly because my older sister, who was "the pretty, outgoing one" when we were little girls, is a brown-eyed, olive-skinned brunette who resembles our mother. Most of my best friends at school were brunettes, and for some reason, the most special friends usually tended to have dark skin as well. Even now, when I write, beautiful characters are mostly brunettes, and boring, ugly characters are blondes. It just goes to show, if you're given the impression as a child that beautiful people are the opposite of what you are, it can affect you for life. I mean, my baby sister is a blonde too, but because all the "main girls" on her favourite cartoons (like Bratz and Horseland) are blue-eyed blondes, she's totally comfortable with her appearance.

I do think it kind of sucks that so few black dolls have African features. I mean, the "black," "Asian" and "Hispanic" Bratz dolls basically look exactly the same as the blonde doll, just with different skin and hair colours. It can't help to build little girls' self esteem- I mean, I imagine it would be a bit confusing to look at the black dolly someone picked out just for you and think, 'She's supposed to look like me, but she doesn't. Is there something wrong with me?' Just another reason that I heartily dislike Bratz.

Well done to Michelle Obama for sticking up for her girls. I'd be livid if someone was making money from selling "Lovely Lilli" dolls that looked like my little sister and they gave me some bullshit excuse for why they were exploiting her image.

This CNN article reminded me of AfterEllen's blog in which you quote the stunningly myopic Marlene Wallach of Wilhelmina Kids & Teens Modeling Agency basically telling us there is a dearth of cute little black girls.  Here's a girl already in the world of modeling who looks similar to Sasha:

 http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2009/LIVING/homestyle/01/30/first.daughter.models/art.sasha.ariel.gi.jpg

"Nature delights in diversity. Why don't humans?"