"black" barbie sells cheaper than "white" barbie

[cletus8269]

Black Barbie Sold for Less Than White Barbie at Walmart Store

Walmart Says Lower Sales of Ballerina Theresa Barbie Prompted the Price Cut

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.

A photo first posted to the humor Web site FunnyJunk.com and later to the Latino Web site Guanabee.com shows packages of Mattel's Ballerina Barbie and Ballerina Theresa dolls hanging side by side at an unidentified store. The Theresa dolls, which feature brown skin and dark hair, are marked as being on sale at $3.00. The Barbies to the right of the Theresa dolls, meanwhile, retain their original price of $5.93. The dolls look identical aside from their color.

Editors at Guanabee.com said the person responsible for the photo told the Web site that it was taken at a Louisiana Walmart store. The person did not return e-mails from ABCNews.com.

A Walmart spokeswoman, who could not verify the exact store shown in the photo, said that the price change on the Theresa doll was part of the chain's efforts to clear shelf space for its new spring inventory.

"To prepare for (s)pring inventory, a number of items are marked for clearance, " spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien said in an e-mail. "... Both are great dolls. 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."

"Pricing like items differently is a part of inventory management in retailing," O'Brien said.

But critics say Walmart should have been more sensitive in its pricing choice.

"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. organization founded by pioneering psychologists and segregation researchers Kenneth B. Clark and Marnie Phipps Clark.

full story here

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/black-barbie-sold-white-barbie-walmart-store/story?id=10045008

[regfootball]

i've worked plenty of my life in retail. the reason you clearance product is so it goes away so you can replace it with stuff that will sell and make profit.

this is a case of trying to stir up trouble.

[daves87rs]

Yep. It's just stupid....

[ocnblu]

PC bullcrap.

[Drew Dowdell]

"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. organization founded by pioneering psychologists and segregation researchers Kenneth B. Clark and Marnie Phipps Clark.

No. The customers devalued the black doll. Walmart has to lower the price to what the customer will pay.

[Croc]

No. The customers devalued the black doll. Walmart has to lower the price to what the customer will pay.

+1

[Drew Dowdell]

I have to be careful what I say in this thread. I have the tendency to be extremely politically incorrect.

Edited March 10, 2010 by Oldsmoboi
wow... spelling is that bad? need another tea... :-/

[CSpec]

Maybe it was because of market realities? Reality tends not to conform to Utopian PC nonsense.

[balthazar]

For verification, I head on over to the plastic utensil shelves, and see how the white & black spoons are priced.

-- -- -- -- --

I believe most kids would likely to chose a doll of the same skin color- that's natural/innocent familiarity. Blacks are roughly 15% of the population in the U.S... but I'm more than willing to bet that Walmart, ALREADY being 'sensitive' , made sure to stock a near equal amount of black & white 'Barbies'. Straight math, folks.

-- -- -- -- --

Wait- the black & white barbies weren't segregated on different hooks, were they ????

[Drew Dowdell]

For verification, I head on over to the plastic utensil shelves, and see how the white & black spoons are priced.

-- -- -- -- --

I believe most kids would likely to chose a doll of the same skin color- that's natural/innocent familiarity. Blacks are roughly 15% of the population in the U.S... but I'm more than willing to bet that Walmart, ALREADY being 'sensitive' , made sure to stock a near equal amount of black & white 'Barbies'. Straight math, folks.

-- -- -- -- --

Wait- the black & white barbies weren't segregated on different hooks, were they ????

I'm sure they are segregated with separate but equal UPC codes....

[Croc]

I'm sure they are segregated with separate but equal UPC codes....

LOL!!

[Intrepidation]

Let's make something out of nothing!

[Lamar]

I believe most kids would likely to chose a doll of the same skin color- that's natural/innocent familiarity.

Studies had actually shown the exact opposite in prior years, especially in the Afr-Am community. Socialization of skin color is no joke.

On a less psychological note, I wish they had said where in Louisiana this took place. It would explain a lot (supply/demand and all that). I'm willing to bet that WalMart stores don't base their product mix on customer demand like auto dealerships do.

Edited March 10, 2010 by Lamar