August 07, 2004
ANOTHER BARBIE FOR SUSIE'S COLLECTION
Via Lynn of Reflections in d minor: Black Oreo Barbie.
No, seriously.
Larger, and less-likely-to-disappear picture here.
Comes in a white version, too:
What were they thinking? Hell if I know. But the San Jose Mercury News had an article quoting Mattel's spokeswoman last January:
...``Oreo Barbie,'' a black Barbie doll made by Mattel just two years ago for a cookie promotion.``If they had a black person working at Mattel, they would not have made an `Oreo Barbie,' '' [Dawn Spears, collector of black memorobilia] said, referring to the derogatory use of Oreo for a person who is ``black on the outside, white on the inside.''
``Oreo Barbie'' came in all skin colors, said Mattel spokeswoman Julia Jensen, noting that the company has a diverse workforce and prides itself on its diverse dolls. ``These are children. It's their favorite snack and favorite doll,'' Jensen said. ``It's not about all the baggage that adults bring to the conversation.''
Another picture of white Oreo Barbie, including a little piece of Oreo jewelry that came with it. (scroll down about 3/4 to the bottom)
White Oreo Fun Barbie in original packaging.
From an article on the ups and downs of multicultural marketing:
Another example of something that worked in the general market but was not appropriate for another market is the Oreo Cookie Barbie Doll. This doll was an important partnership between Nabisco and Mattel and was marketed to young girls as their after-school buddy with whom to share an Oreo Cookie Snack. The success of that item caused the companies to make the decision to create an African-American counterpart, as they do with many Barbie Dolls. For those who may not be familiar, using the term OREO to describe someone who is African-American is saying that although the person is black on the outside they are really "white" on the inside and do not identify with their culture. My research has shown that the doll was produced but never marketed. Having a culturally sensitive team could have saved both companies a lot of production dollars.
There. Now you don't need to Google it.
That was frickin' hysterical! I cannot quit laughing and shaking my head.
So I think that the Oreo cookie makers do not have any black people that are in senior management or marketing. If so, someone would have stopped it dead in its tracks.
See, they should have used the "seasonal" oreos with the red and green frosting...or is it blue and pink? Or yellow? hmmm....
Personally, I agree *immensely* with the guy who said it is just us adults bringing 'baggage'.
Why shouldn't black girls have a "snack buddy" like white girls? Because we stupid, stupid, *stupid* adults assign labels to things.
So annoying.
Might be a little off the subject of the post, but it just makes me sick to hear 'the race card' being played at every possible opportunity. The people most responsible for keeping racism alive are the race baiting assholes with a vested financial interest in keeping it alive that cry racism at every opportunity... they are the ones keeping the black man down, not whitey or "The Man"... it's their own fucking leaders.... jack-offs
Funny, whitey gets blamed for being insensitive on this issue, but I doubt a white person has EVER called a black person an Oreo. Pretty sure that one's strictly a black-on-black hate crime.
I guess you can learn something on Harvey's site.
I had no idea the term Oreo ment what it did. Never heard it before.
I thought when I first started reading that Black Barbie was having a three-some with 2 white Ken dolls.
I guess you can learn something on Harvey's site... it wills be thjat Harbey kis a Jback-Obff idiot......
Machelle - You are SUCH a naughty girl! And I suppose you're going to blame that on ME? I'm thinking you'll make a wonderful blogdaughter someday (hopefully soon? :-)
MB - are you typing while wearing your whack-off mittens again?
That's enough to make me want to barf.
MM - yeah, my comments aren't exactly family-friendly. Sorry 'bout that :-)
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