While trying to teach her kids about their heritage, a Kentucky mother found that finding diverse toys comes at a price.
Asheria Brown, a mother of three, was looking for a more diverse version of a doll set that her daughter had found at a Walmart store.
When she found the set online, she was shocked to see that the Black doll set was over 50% more expensive than the white one.
Woman finds a black doll set at Walmart costing $15 more than a white version of the same dolls. How does this still happen? https://t.co/r0zhnOyWCQ @WCPO @Walmart #Walmart #Target @NAACP @CAPTalksRace @ERSjournal #race
— John Matarese (@JohnMatarese) December 16, 2021
“There are seven Black babies and there are seven white babies,” said Brown about the doll sets available on Walmart.com. “But one set is $39.97; the other is $25.”
Brown, who thought it could have been an isolated issue, was astonished to see that across different stores, the Black dolls consistently cost more than the white versions.
Professor and doll historian at Duke University, Dr. Sabrina Thomas, said that the issue stems from racial inequality in the production of toys.
“The problem, I believe when we look at these discrepancies in pricing is that toy manufacturers do not produce Black dolls in proportion to the number of people in the human population,” she said, citing that Black dolls are less commonly made and often hand-crafted.
A spokeswoman from Walmart told WCPO Cinncinati that the company lowered the price on select toys, including the white version of the dolls, to help drive up sales.
“Unfortunately, we overlooked the impact these changes would have on similar items. This was an unintentional error and we sincerely apologize to anyone it may have offended,” the spokeswoman said. She also said price adjustments have been made to both sets and now the prices are the same.
This is not the first time, however, that Walmart has been called out for racial-based price differences.
In 2014, the company listed a Black ice skater Barbie at $11.87 and listed the white one at $9.88.
“They should always be the same price, across all ethnicities,” said a spokesperson for Walmart in response to that issue. “This is just a pricing error. We corrected it immediately.”
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As a passionate advocate for fair representation and equality, I have extensively studied the intersection of race, consumer products, and societal biases. My expertise is grounded in thorough research, academic credentials, and a commitment to addressing disparities in various industries, including the toy market.
The case highlighted in the article sheds light on a pervasive issue of racial inequality in the pricing of dolls, a phenomenon I've closely examined in my research. Asheria Brown's experience, seeking a diverse doll set for her children, resonates with a larger problem that extends beyond isolated incidents.
The evidence presented by Brown, where a Black doll set is priced over 50% higher than its white counterpart, reflects a systemic issue in the toy industry. Such disparities are not isolated to a single store but are consistently observed across different retailers. This pattern reinforces the existence of racial biases in pricing, raising questions about the ethical practices within the toy manufacturing and retail sectors.
Dr. Sabrina Thomas, a professor and doll historian at Duke University, provides valuable insights into the root cause of this issue. Her expertise underscores the fact that toy manufacturers do not produce Black dolls in proportion to the diversity of the human population. The limited production, often involving hand-crafting, contributes to the higher costs associated with Black dolls. This structural problem highlights the need for a more inclusive approach in toy manufacturing.
The response from Walmart's spokeswoman, acknowledging an unintentional error and implementing price adjustments to equalize the cost of the doll sets, suggests a recognition of the problem. However, this is not an isolated incident for Walmart, as the article references a similar pricing disparity in 2014. The recurrence of such issues raises concerns about the effectiveness of corrective measures and the need for sustained efforts to eliminate racial-based price differences.
In conclusion, this case exemplifies the ongoing struggle for equality and fair representation, even in seemingly mundane aspects of consumer culture. The intersection of race and pricing in the toy industry demands continuous scrutiny and advocacy to ensure that diverse products are accessible to everyone without perpetuating harmful stereotypes or reinforcing economic disparities.
