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March 13, 2010
Wal-Mart's Barbie Doll Racism
Posted by Gregory of Yardale at March 13, 2010 9:49 AM
What the Perpetually Indignant are angry about today.
Walmart is raising eyebrows after cutting the price of a black Barbie doll to nearly half of that of the doll's white counterpart at one store and possibly others.
A photo first posted to the humor Web site FunnyJunk.com and later to the Latino Web site Guanabee.com shows packages of Mattel's Ballerina Barbie and Ballerina Teresa dolls hanging side by side at an unidentified store. The Teresa dolls, which feature brown skin and dark hair, are marked as being on sale at $3.00. The Barbies to the right of the Teresa dolls, meanwhile, retain their original price of $5.93. The dolls look identical aside from their color.
Wal-Mart please "capitalism," noting that the darker dolls weren't selling, so prices were reduced to make way for new inventory. Of course, the Perpetually Indignant reject this explanation.
Critics say Walmart should have been more sensitive in its pricing choice...
No, they should have been smarter in their PR, and claimed the lower price was designed to address income disparities and make the toys more available to disadvantaged girls.
