Are Black Dolls Considered Beautiful Today?

Are black dolls considered beautiful today? Do black dolls successfully compete in the retail market with Caucasian dolls that have long glamorous hair you can easily comb, tint and set in different flowing styles? Do black dolls look attractive to the black or white children's eye? Do black consumers grab black dolls off the shelf or do their children ask for Caucasian dolls with long hair and lovelier features? All questions to consider in today's retail market, especially since holiday shopping is on us.

When I was growing up, initially there weren't any black dolls on the store shelves at all. I played with the same Caucasian dolls my Caucasian friends played with, and never thought twice about it. I never thought about the fact that the dolls didn't look like me. I loved combing and brushing my doll's long silky hair. My own hair was very coarse in texture and it was excruciating having my mother style it. I longed for long silky hair, just like my dolls, believing their image was beautiful.

My mother happened to work at Mattel Toys and brought home one of the first produced black dolls for a Christmas present for me. As the oldest child, she was proudly giving me the honor of owning a doll that looked more like me. Suffice it to say, her attempt was wasted on me, because it was just a painted black doll image of a Caucasian doll with Caucasian features, but having curly tight hair. I thought the doll was ugly and placed it in the back of my closet.

As an adult I attempted to impress on my multi-racial children the fact that black dolls were beautiful, because they were meant to be made in their image. Realistically I bought both black and white dolls into my home. I remember standing on line with other desperate mothers, only I searched harder for black cabbage dolls when they initially came out. Personally, I still believed Caucasian dolls happened to be made more beautiful in appearance. Now with my children grown, I own my own personal collection of varied black dolls and consider them all to be beautiful.

Today there's mixed reactions regarding a new black doll line that recently came out. Mattel introduced a new line of black Barbie dolls, created by Barbie designer, Stacey Mc-Bride-Irby, who happens to be of black heritage herself. The new line's called, "So In Style." Mattel reports the doll line consists of, best friends, Grace, Kara and Trichelle, and their little sisters they mentor, Courtney, Janessa and Kianna. They have black ethnocentric names, varied black skin tones, and each doll also has different personal interests. Grace was Barbie's best friend and moved and met two more best friends.

Mattel's website explains the storyline behind each doll in, "So In Style," through a video voiced by Stacey Mc-Bride-Irby. This new Barbie doll line sounds like a great idea, pure inspiration for black girls. Stacey Mc-Bride-Irby quotes, "I want them to see themselves within these dolls, and let them know that black is beautiful." (Quote from Pocono Record Newspaper Oct 2009)

Some consumers are saying this new line's a great idea but still clings to the image that dolls with long, easy manageable hair are more beautiful. Many black girls and women have hair image problems. Hence the high use of wigs, hair weaves and extensions in the black community. I include myself in that count too. Black women have the need to cover up our natural hair because we may feel it's not good enough or beautiful enough to show in public. It's definitely harder to comb and take care of. Television commercials and television series promote children with beautiful styled hair. Should it be the same with dolls? Should we have a black doll with a removable hair weave?

Mattel's new Barbie doll collection are positive images for black children because they're made with enhanced black facial features, but to market and sell them, must the dolls still uphold to what's attractive in society, long, glamorous hair that children can comb. Can we not see ourselves and our black dolls as beautiful if they're designed with Afros, braids, or other natural hairstyles? Can we perceive a black doll is attractive if the skin tone's darker, the nose is wider, or lips are fuller?

I don't know who the defining person was that determined what a beautiful image was, or who determined the color black was regarded to be dark, undesirable, the last crayon you grabbed out of the box, or the last doll you bought off a store shelf. Black consumers have to go out there and embrace these new black dolls, for their children's sake. To create a healthy self image, teach children, especially girls, that their physical attributes and features are indeed beautiful. We have to let them know their hair texture is completely acceptable and beautiful, especially in this difficult social climate our children face today with achieving a healthy self-esteem.

Disney's first movie with a black princess, Tiana, in, "The Princess and The Frog," will be out, December 11, 2009, after a limited engagement run, November 25, 2009, in N.Y. and La. I truly hope black consumers and Caucasian consumers embrace this Disney movie and their first black princess, Tiana. Tiana, is of course a beautiful black princess, but then again there has been conversation regarding her skin tone and hair texture. Advancement for acceptance of black culture into mainstream media still has need for improvements, as the fact that it has taken this long for a black princess character and princess doll to be produced and marketed. I hope it has as much success as, "Snow White."

We will see how Mattel's, "So In Style," Barbie line does in today's market. Black dolls, Spanish dolls, Caucasian dolls, or any ethnic doll image should all be acceptable and beautiful in our society. It's up to us as parents, mentors, and retail marketers, to encourage self-esteem and acceptance, over the need to be the most beautiful doll on the shelves.

You can find out further information about the new Mattel black doll line, "So In Style," at www.mattel.com and information about Tiana and, "The Princess And The Frog," at www.disney.com

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