"Most white parents wouldn't think to buy a black doll for their child, even if they believe in equality and all those things," she said. Wade said that when white dolls outsell black dolls, it's usually because black parents are more likely than white parents to buy their children dolls of a different race. Last year, Wade posted a blog entry on another case where a black doll was apparently priced less than its white counterpart at an unidentified store. Walmart could have decided "that it's really important that we as a company don't send a message that we value blackness less than whiteness," said Lisa Wade, an assistant sociology professor at Occidental College in Los Angeles and the founder of the blog Sociological Images. "While it's clear that's not what was intended, sometimes these things have collateral damage," Dye said. organization founded by pioneering psychologists and segregation researchers Kenneth B. "The implication of the lowering of the price is that's devaluing the black doll," said Thelma Dye, the executive director of the Northside Center for Child Development, a Harlem, N.Y. "Pricing like items differently is a part of inventory management in retailing," O'Brien said.īut critics say Walmart should have been more sensitive in its pricing choice. The red price sticker indicates that this particular doll was on clearance when the photo was taken, and though both dolls were priced the same to start, one was marked down due to its lower sales to hopefully increase purchase from customers." "To prepare for (s)pring inventory, a number of items are marked for clearance, " spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien said in an e-mail. The person did not return e-mails from .Ī Walmart spokeswoman, who could not verify the exact store shown in the photo, said that the price change on the Teresa doll was part of the chain's efforts to clear shelf space for its new spring inventory. The dolls look identical aside from their color.Įditors at said the person responsible for the photo told the Web site that it was taken at a Louisiana Walmart store. The Barbies to the right of the Teresa dolls, meanwhile, retain their original price of $5.93. The Teresa dolls, which feature brown skin and dark hair, are marked as being on sale at $3.00. 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.Ī photo first posted to the humor Web site and later to the Latino Web site shows packages of Mattel's Ballerina Barbie and Ballerina Teresa dolls hanging side by side at an unidentified store.
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