Black Barbies sell at half price: A reason to be upset?

16 March 2010 ~ 38 Comments

Black Barbies sell at half price: A reason to be upset?

So a huge theme of this blog is “beauty equality”; the idea that natural hair is just as beautiful, and should be just as celebrated, as any other texture. So my interest was piqued when I heard that black Barbies at a Louisiana WalMart were being sold for half the price of white Barbies. According to a HuffPo article (check it out HERE), the Barbies were marked down because fewer people were buying them, and the store needed to clear space for new inventory.

The Root followed up with an interesting piece (written from the perspective of black Barbie) pointing out that little black girls often buy white Barbies, perpetuating the devaluation of the black Barbie.

The piece referenced the infamous 1940s Kenneth and Mamie Clark experiment, where black children were given a choice between a black doll and a white doll, and most selected the white doll. (This experiment was replicated in 2006 to similar results.)

Now I know that these are just Barbies we’re talking about. But I’m interested to hear your perspectives on this. Is there reason to be troubled by this? Or is this simple economics?

38 Responses to “Black Barbies sell at half price: A reason to be upset?”

CandyceNoelle 16 March 2010 at 6:09 pm Permalink

it’s supply and demand…if not many ppl are buying, the price doesn’t need to be that high. Money Money Money…not that serious…means I can pay less for a doll more like me

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Cardenie 16 March 2010 at 6:35 pm Permalink

I agree, stores mark stuff down all the time and it’s because the item is not selling fast enough. It can’t take up shelf space forever.

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Simone 16 March 2010 at 6:43 pm Permalink

they have dolls that aren’t selling… its a matter of marketing… supply and demand and knowing when to bail on something that APPARENTLY isn’t working…

I personally never cared for barbie… I never purchased one (of any color) for my daughter when she was younger. I’ve seen little girls of ALL persuasions with the black barbie.

If you want to complain… consider this… when was the last time you saw a barbie commerical with the black barbie in it? and we wonder why it isn’t selling? ….

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South Loop Social Light 16 March 2010 at 6:48 pm Permalink

I agree with the other comments. If people aren’t buying something it gets marked down. I was able to buy DevaCurl products @ my local Target for more than 50% off because the demand wasn’t there for it… this is the same thing with the barbies.

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Ivy 16 March 2010 at 7:25 pm Permalink

The picture of the Black Barbie being sold right next to the White Barbie for half the price was super depressing. I think that we need to examine all the reasons why the Black Barbie, which looks exactly the same as the White Barbie except for skin color, is not as “in demand”. It’s about more than simple supply and demand. I think it’s because of the denigration of Black beauty and the fact that White beauty is what is valued in the mainstream. I honestly think the people in charge or pricing should be sensitive to things like this.

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JoCoastie 16 March 2010 at 8:01 pm Permalink

There are many reasons why the White Barbie might be more in demand. For example, more white people shop at that store then black people. The fact of the matter is there are more white people in this country then black people so products aimed at this market have a smaller customer base. Sounds like supply and demand to me but that does not rule out the possibility that that is actually do to the store owners belief that Black people are less beautiful then white people or some other reasons along those lines.

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kdub1119 16 March 2010 at 8:13 pm Permalink

it’s supply and demand. i work in the corporate office of a retailer and the sales dictate what is done with a product. whatever the item is if it doesn’t sell it needs to get marked down so it doesn’t take up the floor space of another item that will. if the store is in an area where the black demographic doesn’t shop this can easily happen.

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LBell 16 March 2010 at 8:31 pm Permalink

Unfortunately I don’t have enough information about this to level an opinion. One of my first thought ran along the line of JoCoastie’s: Maybe there aren’t enough customers for the Black Barbie in this particular Louisiana Wal-Mart. The fact that there are any at all implies there’s at least a little black business there.

However, I will say this: I had a Colored Francie when I was a little girl (Google it; that should tell you how old I am) so I remember when having a black fashion doll was a BIG DEAL. In fact my father refused to buy us any dolls that weren’t black; the only white dolls we had came from my mother. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that nowadays black folks take this kind of stuff for granted; I just remain forever grateful that I grew up in a time when parents were much more CONSCIOUS about things like this…

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Locs by alisha 16 March 2010 at 9:16 pm Permalink

thank you, I love what you wrote! i have learned alot.

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Betty Boop 16 March 2010 at 9:26 pm Permalink

And if the Barbies weren’t marked down people would be saying that black people across the board don’t earn as much as white people, so it would be unfair for them to buy the black barbie at the same price as white barbie (if it’s black people who mostly buy black barbies). Black barbie is the same as white barbie except for skin color.
Is there nothing that will satisfy us? And if it’s the doll that bothers us so much, let me ask this: is Mattel a black company? Why does Mattel have to do ANYTHING for black people? Maybe it’s time we started to manufacture our own dolls and buy them too.

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Cassie 16 March 2010 at 9:47 pm Permalink

Less demand = lower price.

Not racism – just economics.

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Deborah 16 March 2010 at 10:31 pm Permalink

I disagree. More demand lower price. Less demand higher price. Remember when flat screen tvs used to be very high in price? That was because many people were not buying them. Now that they’re in demand they’re getting lower and lower. That’s how economics works. It could also mean they have an abundant of material or the doll in question. Though I’m not counting out that they’re trying to push the item off the sales for other items, I doubt it.

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Deborah 16 March 2010 at 10:34 pm Permalink

ETA: However, now that I think about it, if they have a large amount of black dolls then yeah, I’d try and push it too. They may have more dolls in abundance because the black community is consumer based and doesn’t produce, there is a lot of money to be made.

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Juices-N-Berries 16 March 2010 at 10:45 pm Permalink

I think we are overlooking the fact that it actually could be a good thing. Perhaps by lowering the price, it can become more available to African Americans in a lower socio-economic status. It could actually increase the number of people who purchase them and gives an alternative that is not only cheaper, but more representative of the purchaser. I think sometimes we can go looking for racism when it isn’t really present. Like the others said, it’s supply and demand, and it could actually be beneficial.

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BlaqInfinite 16 March 2010 at 11:40 pm Permalink

Yep, just a matter of economics. Mattel would not in its right mind pay to produce millions of black barbies and sell them at half price when they could be making more money off it. I’m sure in more culturally aware/diverse areas they sell just fine, and are more marketable.

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D 16 March 2010 at 11:52 pm Permalink

Did you know that the Black “Collectors Edition” of Barbie is worth less than the White “Collectors Edition”?

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nikima 16 March 2010 at 11:53 pm Permalink

as a collector of dolls, i can tell you that a lot of times the black version does go on sale, or there are not an equivalent number of black dolls to white produced. the reason i always hear is demand is not high for the ‘ethnic’ dolls. but the flipside (in the collectors market anyways) is that the black version of certain dolls, in the secondary market, are more desireable due to the lower production/availability. for example LBell, your Colored Francie would get you some NICE change today! lol

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brunttefury 17 March 2010 at 3:40 am Permalink

I can’t believe all the comments excusing this as simple economics. The pricing down has to do with economics yes, but the underlying issue here has to do with race. Doesn’t anyone think that blackness, especially when it comes to marketing these products, is being devalued? Did anyone watch the doll experiment or the follow up to that experiment? Not only do white people buy the white dolls, but children and parents of other races do as well. There are so many little boys and girls of other races who see the white doll as prettier or more attractive (at least 47% of little black girls). Why is it that white, black (Hispanic or otherwise), and Asian kids can buy these white dolls and see them as beautiful, but it’s rather rare when the opposite occurs? There are many little girls and boys of different races who only see positive representations of white beauty in the mainstream media that they consume. I mean, thank goodness we now have a black Disney Princess for little black girls to emulate. When I was little, nearly all the Disney Princesses were white and all I wanted were the white dolls and not the ones who looked more like me. I was so excited when Pocahontas, Jasmine and, much later, Mulan were introduced. I’m saying this as a person who lived outside of the US in a country where the majority of people were different shades of brown and black. In many cases, part of the issue is that white is valued more highly than any other race in this society and that’s reflected in how these products sell.

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Tesa 17 March 2010 at 9:10 am Permalink

I personally don’t have a problem with my black barbies being cheaper. That’s a deal for me! :) I feel the “demand” is low because we don’t teach our little girls to love their hair and skin. I personally push the black barbie when it’s time to buy dolls for my four year old. I praise her daily and tell her her hair is beautiful, and that she has pretty skin. Now don’t get me wrong she has barbies of all colors, but now I notice she favors the black barbie when playing with them all together. I also noticed after I went natural that she stopped asking for her hair to be straight like the little girls on TV. As a matter of fact if I’m taking her braids down and her hair is wild and crinkly she says leave it like that mommy. She tells me I’m beautiful all the time also.

What are our little brown girls taking in at home? What do they see at home as an example for them?

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Athena 17 March 2010 at 12:46 pm Permalink

If the dolls aren’t moving of the shelves and need to be marked down in order to encourage customers to buy them, its just business. Nothing to be offended about. Besides, are these actual black looking Barbies or just the white ones that are painted brown? I think the latter are just as damaging as only playing with white Barbies because it sends the message that we are only attractive if we have straight hair and narrow features.

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Athena 17 March 2010 at 1:00 pm Permalink

Also, I understand why some would be upset over this as it is yet another thing that serves to devalue black beauty, but it also illustrates why it so important for us to grow up in an environment where we are shown the opposite. I grew up watching white disney princesses and playing with mostly white dolls but I never grew up thinking that white was better. Why? Because I had a black mother who made a point to teach us about our history and culture, who raised her children to be race conscious and take pride in being someone of African origin, who decorated our home with so many different forms of black artwork, and made a point to keep my hair in its natural state and go on and on about how pretty she thought I was, and always walked outside her door making sure that she looked fierce. And if after all of that I still gave the impression that I valued white beauty over my own, I was verbally reprimanded for it and given a very long lecture to show me how wrong I was. I was also raised to not seek validation in others and to not worry about what everyone else has especially if those people were white. My point is that everything begins at home. If we trust that we raised our children with everything that they need to know in order to have pride and respect for themselves, they can be more conscious of how things operate in our society and not let it affect their self worth.

I guess that is why this isn’t that big of a deal to me.

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mj 17 March 2010 at 2:24 pm Permalink

the color of barbies never really bothered me as a child. i had barbies in all colors & whether it was white or black, didn’t make a huge difference to me. i thought they all were equally as attractive, honestly (im only 19, so there were so many different barbies when i was growing up). it does seem bad but if the supply isnt up there for black barbies, what can you do?

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Delle 17 March 2010 at 3:19 pm Permalink

No reason to be upset at the retailer. Price follows demand!

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kechy 17 March 2010 at 7:26 pm Permalink

its new. give it time.

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Kiarah 17 March 2010 at 11:13 pm Permalink

I noticed this last year when I was looking for a barbie for my god-daughter. I was very upset to find that the entire Toys R Us only had two black barbies and they were cheaper than the white versions of them. They were not half the price. They were $2 cheaper. It made me sad to see that they were obviously not selling. I was hoping this was because I was at a store in a neighborhood where mostly white people live. I did not know this was a national thing but I am not surprised. MY mother always bought black dolls for me and she encouraged my relatives to do the same. If I got a white barbie for my birthday, she did not give it to me. She told them thank you but she told them they could keep it and she told them is was because she wanted her black daughter to play with a black barbie (or cabbage patch kid). I was not a prejudice thing. I think she just thought it was important. I didn’t understand it back then but now I think it truly helped me acquire a high self esteem. I knew black was beautiful. I am not saying black children can never play with white barbies. I just think it is important they have black barbies as a part of their collection also.

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Ashley 17 March 2010 at 11:45 pm Permalink

@Deborah.
Supply and demand is: High demand – higher price, Low-demand-lower price. It’s about how much of something there is in relation to how much people want it. Things that are rare (or are manufactured at a slower rate) and very coveted are expensive (diamonds, pearls, couture, truffles…).

I think the reason things like flat screen TV’s and other techy things become cheaper over time is because the increase in the amount of people buying plus the improvement in production eventually offset the cost to make it. There is high demand, but there is also high production.
Supply and demand also kicks in when the technology becomes cheaper because the new version is coming out. Then, you have to clear the inventory to make space for the new stuff. (Like the way Apple has something new coming out every other hour.)

btw…I think this Barbie thing is probably a demand issue more than anything. Then you can argue why the black Barbie is in low demand.

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Deborah 18 March 2010 at 10:32 am Permalink

@Ashley

The key thing to remember about free market capitalism is that it is a system of voluntary exchange; buyer and seller agree to an exchange because they think it is to their mutual benefit. A market price is the balance between how eager you are to buy something and how reluctant the producer is to sell it. if something has a high price tag, it’s because it is scare, if it has a low price tag it’s because “they’re a dime a dozen.” In short market prices are not arbitrary. for instance, given that the Mercedes-Benz is expensive, if your the consumer, you’ll make sure your other needs are taken care of before you shell out a lot of money for a luxury car. Likewise if your the producer, market prices will tell you what goods are being produced. So for example, if your an apple grower and the price of apples is 10 cents a pound, you’ll know that you need to either grow a lot of apples to meet the demand for inexpensive fruit or diversify into a different crop that consumers consider more valuable.

High production means lower prices. More workers, more material, more material lower prices. They made these dolls to make money from black Americans who do nothing but consume.

No one wants to lose money, they will do whatever it takes to make money no one going to put money into something just for it be marked down. That’s just stupid. In the end, the investors would be the real losers.

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Daphne / Une Autre Naturelle 18 March 2010 at 10:57 am Permalink

this is really about supply and demand…but it also has to do with us. People call me crazy, but my daughter only hase ONE WHITE BARBIE and that one was a gift. I refuse to buy a white barbie doll in my house. She is a beautiful black girl and I want her surrounded dools who reflect what she looks like.

If I was at that Walmart, I would have been happy to buy all those Barbies on sale!

Another thing, last Christmas my daughter wanted a Baby Alive Doll – I refused to buy her a white one. I had to pay TRIPLE the price for the black baby alive because they were hard to find…this shows you, it’s all about supply and demand.

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- Marci 17 October 2011 at 12:44 pm Permalink
  
  @Daphne I completely agree and I do the same thing. My daughter has about 14 Barbie + 3 other dolls at age 5 and about 3 of them are White and 1 is Hanna Montana, and the other were gifts from family who said they could not find a Black doll. When I go to buy a Barbie whether it is for Christmas or her birthday I purchase a Black doll and there have been occassions where I have gone to 5 different stores to find a Black doll because I refuse to do other wise. I do however buy White dolls for her white friend and lighter brown dolls for her Asian or Hispanic friend basically based on skin color I try to buy the doll that looks like them which is the whole point.
  
  Most of my daughters friends are White however I want her to love who she is and not see her difference in skin color of hair as something inferior. I think that if you have Black parents settling for a White doll when they can not find a Black one is so pre-Civil Rights, it’s such a small thing to take a stand for but it says you matter.
  
  I have actually asked for the store manager when I could not find any (of high or low value) at Christmas time but there were literally still over 50 White Barbie still on the shelf. They told me they are given a prefixed assortment to choose from. I live in what is probably a 65% White 30%Black area but I refused to purchase a White (unless it’s a Disney Character or Peron like Snow White or Tinkerbell, etc.
  
  Having worked corporate retail buying it is supply and demand. We have a schedule markdown date for some vendors automatically, However for products that have a faster sell rate the price stay the same, but on items that are not doing well when we expected they would along with products that came in at the same time we mark them down to move new merchandise in.
  
  Bottomline they are not selling and being markdown because people are not buying or are buying White Barbie’s and in that case they need to empower themselves and their daughter into “your are beautiful” not just my Black if beautiful. Yes we are different but only in color everything else can be changed so therefore there should be a reflection of who I am in the marketplace to respect that I am relevant and accepted as equal. Otherwise they’re making it an issue.
  
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Deborah 18 March 2010 at 11:21 am Permalink

@Daphne / Une Autre Naturelle

Exactly, rarity item = high prices.

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sumdai 18 March 2010 at 2:56 pm Permalink

Didn’t the Bratz dolls (that came in a variety of shades) sell better than Barbie (until the lawsuit)? There are a lot of factors to the markdown, but I don’t think we can ignore the fact that children may not even like Barbie that much anymore, especially minority children who once played withe the Bratz dolls. That was the whole reason that Matell tried to make the “So In-style” dolls was to get back (key word there) the kids who were loyal to the Bratz dolls. From what I know about this particular store, it wasn’t the So In-style line of Barbies that was marked down. I can’t believe so many adults have already forgotten the reign of the Bratz dolls. Kids don’t forget their favorite toys (or odd ones) even when they aren’t available anymore (remember those slap bracelets).

Lastly, I’m really tired of people trying to reference the “black doll/white doll” study, aren’t those studies done on like 20 girls in the first place?

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- Marci 17 October 2011 at 12:53 pm Permalink
  
  The problem with that is that when I could not find the Black Barbie dolls as I stated in my comment above I went to buy a Brat doll and went to the same 5 store and could not find 1 of the Black doll (Cloe I think) so the same problem still remains that either they are settling or we are just not buying. I would be lead to believe that since people are busing and passive when it comes to taking action like letting the manager know and just not buying that they are settling. I even called Mattel when I could not find 1 Black Barbie at five different store between Walmart and Toysrus
  
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FeBaby 19 March 2010 at 11:29 pm Permalink

Barbie is fun :-)

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Nene 4 November 2010 at 7:28 pm Permalink

It is interesting; usually items marketed to Black people are more expensive. Enjoy the lower price for now.

To address some of the things that others have said here, when products come out, they are more expensive because they are new. Items like flat screen televisions go down in price because of economies of scale. The more that you produce the prices go down and the technology gets cheaper.

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Dossou nadege 14 November 2011 at 6:37 am Permalink

Well, I believe that our young girls don’t recognize themselves in black dolls. That’s a pity.

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Ariane 28 November 2011 at 1:06 pm Permalink

Its, honestly not a big deal. If the children are putting white barbies on a higher pedestal, maybe the parents should be thinking of ways that they can encourage them to be proud of their own culture.Their peers have a major influence on what they view as beautiful, but their upbringing has a more profound effect.

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