Blogpost 2: Black Beauties

People measure beauty by physical appearance. One should have charming eyes, genuine smile and flawless skin to be labeled beautiful. Some consider another person less of a human mainly because of the skin color, language and sometimes even the nationality. This is called racism. It is a powerful way of discrimination where a person considers someone inferior if he/she is different from what he's accustomed. Meanwhile, Mattel's barbie dolls has been famous for their physique and Caucasian features. It has also been scrutinized for it's plastic perfectness and lack of realism. But what people forget is to recognize how pivotal Mattel has been, trying to break barriers in society. The management decided to make the first African American barbie doll in  the. The doll aims to promote equality in all races.

Black-skinned Barbies

I read the article entitled, "Are Mattel's New Dolls black enough?", by Ann Zimmerman, from the site oynline.wsj.com. 

The main topic is Francie, the first black doll of Mattel  in l967 from their So In Style line. She's known as the "mod" cousin of Barbie. The article also tackled about other So In Style black dolls; Grace, Trichelle, Kara and Christie. Despite the company's effort to plead for good comments from the black community, some of them are still not satisfied. They say the dolls are not black enough for some of the models' features are still similar to the Caucasians. The article mentioned the grouse of Cheryl Nelson-Grimes with her daughter's Francie doll. She quibbled about the doll's fine-textured hair. Mrs. Nelson-Grimes wanted her daughter to learn that beauty isn't measured with how straight or long your hair is. The complaints justify how laborious it is for a commercial industry to please the entire African-American community with just a single or two image. 

On the other hand, black dolls of Mattel's So In Style line still managed to collect favorable outputs. The production wrote positive messages at the back of each box about the doll's interests. Some of which are educational and sports related because according to Stacey McBride-Irby, the designer of the So In Style dolls, she wanted to send good message to the buyers. She doesn't want the people to think that the dolls are just about fashion and fun. With regard to the complaints about it's hair, Mattel conducted a substantial survey. It conveyed that the kids wanted the hair to be easy to brush and style and so they made the dolls' hair fine-grained. Aside from that, it was mentioned in the article that Stephanie Archer the leader of Mocha Moms, an Africa-American group, gave positive statement about the So In Style Francie dolls. She indicated that Mattel did a good job not exaggerating and getting the features just right. It made her daughter feel special because the doll looks the same as her. 

Zimmerman stated, "The dolls are much better representation than what has been in the market place." 

Francie

I have also read one article, "Mattel's New Black Doll A Step in the right Direction" wrtitten by Dodai Stewart, from the site jezebel.com.

Mattel's S.I.S (So In Style) line which featured black dolls made publicity due to it's bold decision to produce dolls at variance from the stereotypical Barbies. It still had some trouble with regard to the features, gaining negative comments from the black community. Some of the dolls still carry Barbie's physical manifestation which are long legs, impracticably slender physique, big bust and thin waist. Though condemned, the So In Style black dolls was labeled a positive step forward. It was a great substitute for the traditional blue-eyed, blonde Barbie dolls. S.I.S designer Stacey McBride, who is black, said she got up with the idea of creating black dolls so her daughter can play with something that looks like her. The dolls are a good help since mothers had a difficulty reinforcing the "black is beauty" idea. It had also gained positive notes from some of the African-American Mothers for the dolls exude attributes almost similar to the black people.

Stewart noted, "The dolls comes in pairs of big and little sisters which  encourage mentoring relationships.… They may not be mirror-perfect, but they come closer to the fantasy than my childhood playthings."

The So In Style dolls gives off precise message since most of the African-American traits is emboldening relationships. Mattel did a good work on making the dolls' features somehow close to the real ones. It helps boosts the confidence of young girls since it looks a lot like them. It would probably teach them to love their self as they are. One good message the dolls manifest is that beauty is not defined through the skin color or the hair texture.


No human race is superior and no color is inferior so all of the collective judgements are wrong. These black dolls, i believe, discredit racism.