Malia and Sasha Dolls Cause Stir

Toy manufacturer Ty is getting ready to ship its new "Marvelous Malia" and "Sweet Sasha" dolls to retailers eager to cash in on Obama fever. While Ty claims the dolls are not in any way related to the Obama daughters, the owner of Source, an Upper East Side toy and party store, told Crain's New York, “They’ll definitely sell, everybody’s Obama crazy." First Lady Michelle Obama's office was perturbed enough to tell Crain's Chicago, "We believe it is inappropriate to use young private citizens for marketing purposes," but Ty says, "There's nothing on the dolls that refers to the Obama girls. It would not be fair to say they are exact replications of these girls. They are not." The dolls are part of the TyGirlz Collection which sort of seem like Beanie versions of less slutty Bratz dolls. And we'll await the TyGirlz mix of Rick Warren's "Malia and Sasha" hit.

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By Jen Chung in News on January 23, 2009 1:57 PM

Comments [rss]

cucarachita

Those dolls look nothing like them, though. What is up with all these bad reproductions of the family?

NannyState

You're telling me: my Chelsea Clinton doll doesn't inflate properly and when you apply lipstick, it gets crackly and flakes off on entry.

Future Taliban

Ken-ya believe the audacity?

zstone

Sweet Sasha - that's the name of my favorite porn star.

amandabee

Obviously Ty is being totally dishonest, though if you look at the "Ty Girlz" site, there are a few dozen different dolls, but Sasha and Malia are the only ones who appear to be of African descent. So they've wanted to make some black dolls for a while but only just thought of good names?

What I find more creepy is that the cartoon version of Marvelous Malia on the Ty Girlz site is stacked. The doll is formless. Malia is built like a ten year old. So why does her cartoon version need boobs?

schizofriendly

I agree with the Obama's spokesperson: “We believe it is inappropriate to use young private citizens for marketing purposes.”

The dolls are cute, though. I don't find them racist.