Beanie Baby Company Gets In On The Obama Hustle With Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia

President and FLOTUS

by Lamar Tyler | on January 23rd, 2009 | 15 comments

Yesterday we gave you our list of the top 5 Obama hustles during inauguration weekend. Well here we go again. This time Ty – The company responsible for making Beanie Babies has introduced two new dolls to their line of TyGirlz.

The two your AA dolls don’t necessarily look like the First Little Ladies but you can’t deny the names which are Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia. A rep for the company has said that the dolls are not based on anyone and that their company stays away from naming dolls after any particular person. Hmmmmmmmm. OK. The White House hasn’t had a comment at this point. The dolls sell for just under 10 bucks and you can check them out here at Ty’s website.

About the author

Lamar and Ronnie Tyler are the creators of the award-winning blog BlackandMarriedWithKids.com . They also are behind the Amazon.com bestselling DVDs Happily Ever After: A Positive Image of Black Marriage, You Saved Me and Men Ain’t Boys that explores manhood in the African American community. The Tylers are also the proud parents of four children.

http://rawdawgb.blogspot.com rawdawgbuffalo

it was no coinsidence

rawdawgbuffalos last blog post..Gimme $785 Billion Jones
Anna

Wow, what are the odds. Do ppl really think we are that stupid?
ewok

Yeah. I am new to buying dolls for my baby girl because she is 10 months old so I get excited about dolls for her. I forwarded the dolls to my friends and family and they were like…ugh! Then they referred me to some great websites with amazing african american dolls.I don’t know the rules for mentioning great websites but I would suggest you google your patooties off. (LOL!)
Nicole

I guess everybody’s trying to make some money since were in a recession, but I think some of these people/companies are taking things a little bit too far.
http://www.cisterspeak.com CS

I agree with Nicole. This is simply a way to capitalize on the historic impact of president Obama’s success. They’ve went too far with this, wow…

CSs last blog post..How To Remove a Charge Off From Your Credit Report
MissJay

I agree with Nicole as well. You can’t tell me that wasn’t named after the President’s daughters.
http://www.theduckwalk.com TheDuckWalk

Why do these dolls have breasts? I heard Michelle made an announcement asking TY to leave her daughters alone. Sasha and Malia may think this is pretty cool now (heck, I’d think it was pretty cool if I had a doll named after me), but just imagine all the subsequent exploitation that’s going to occur should TY get away with this…
Sasha

I agree with everything said so far, but am also excited (please excuse how awful this sounds) that little black girls are suddenly in fashion!! What do you want to bet that now that Michelle Obama and her girls are wearing J Crew clothes and coats, that J Crew will ACTUALLY PUT A BLACK FACE IN THEIR CATALOG, which will be a first.

Although these Beanie Babies are awful for a lot of reasons, I am excited that black girl dolls are very popular right now, and that that will have to have an effect and an impact on how little black girls feel about themselves and how they are subsequently treated in school, in grocery stores, and in life.

I KNOW that the reasoning behind this is messed up, but I am happy for the outcome, nonetheless…sometimes you just have to celebrate the victories when they come.
http://www.singlemomandmore.com Lisa Maria Carroll

Two Black dolls with Sasha and Malia’s names and Michelle Obama’s lips. Coincidence? I think not.

Lisa Maria Carrolls last blog post..A Gay Daughter or a Black Roommate…
http://www.singlemomandmore.com Lisa Maria Carroll

@Sasha,

I agree with you about J. Crew putting a Black face in their catalogs. I know Black women who have been wearing J. Crew for years, so it’s time for them to pump some of those Black dollars back into the Black community. After all, their stocks surged after the three first women rocked their gear at the Inauguration.

Lisa Maria Carrolls last blog post..A Gay Daughter or a Black Roommate…
Anna

I am ok with fair enterprise, but is this fair at the expense of the dolls being black and named after “The First Children”? As TheDuckWalk said, why do the girls have breasts? We all know that “Barbie” dolls have curves, but this is too much. As a mother I feel like Our First Lady “leave my daughters alone”. To me this is explortation. I will not be buying the dolls as a collectors item or a present for any little girl. @ Lisa Maria, you also noticed they put Michelle’s lips on the dolls. Was Michelle suppose to be so happy that it would get her “stamp of appoval”? We can support our First Black Family in the White House with pride and admiration without so much “foolery”. To me the song “My President is Black” is more of an insult than a feeling of pride. We all know our President is black and it took more then the black votes to get him elected. Let’s respect our President for being “all for one and one for all”.
@ Sasha, I too hope that J Crew will put a black face on the cover. I heard that once word got out about “what/who the girls were wearing” ppl got online to order the clothes, the J Crew site crashed many times with ppl trying to purchase clothes for their kids. I betcha all that visited were not just black ppl. Ppl only see others as having black skin, brown skin or white skin. Our skin is only a color. It is up to us as parents to bring our ethnic/culture genes into our home and to share with others. Christmas of ’07′ I bought the little white girl across the street a black barbie doll, her parents did not refuse to accept it or throw it out with the trash. When I see a white person I know they are not just white because of their skin. They are Polish, Jewish, Red necks or even white looking skin ppl who happen to also be black. My venting is almost over. I am just tired of ppl who think there is only one “right race”. Our President is black and we do not have to throw it around to those who did not vote for him. Let’s show some class and as black ppl and be willing to answer stupid questions from ” the outsiders”, in our office or everyday life outside of home. I am not referring to anyone in this room, but if you visit other sites I can’t believe some of the comments I read. Ppl of any background really do believe Our President is going to make their lives pain free. I guess because my fish died I am suppose to blame Obama or have him bail me out for my loss. LOL.
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http://www.singlemomandmore.com Lisa Maria Carroll

@Anna,

My comment was not meant to say that Michelle should be proud that Ty gave the dolls her lips. I was pointing out that those dolls have too many similarities to Michelle, Sasha and Malia for Ty to now be back peddling and calling it a coincidence.

There’s no way that this is a coincidence. They are clearly capitalizing on the Obamania, but they took it too far when they involved the kids.

They’re now pointing out the fact that the dolls have breasts as their way of saying that there is no way that they could have had Sasha and Malia in mind when they created the dolls. Yeah, right.

Lisa Maria Carrolls last blog post..Hanging up my Unmentionables to Dry
ewok

I do agree now would be a good time for J. Crew to put a black face on their advertisements. It’s only right at this point. I was a prep coming up in the late ’80′s and early ’90′s (until my so called hippie phase with my ripped jeans and Chucks…lol.). I worked at the Gap three years in High School to make this possible because employees got a 50% discount. There are black “preps” J. Crew….free your mind lol.
Michael

I think it is shameful that the almighty dollar trumps the dignity and respect due the office of the presidency and the image of the first family. I don’t for a minute believe that African American pride is at the root of these dolls. In light of the news that Mrs. Obama is against this invasion of privacy they should be removed from production. And by the way the fact that everyone is doing it is a lame excuse.