The Obama Girls and the Toy Industry: That didn't take long

Last week I wrote about the strong interest paid by the public to Sasha Obama carrying an Uglydoll clipped to her backpack. At the time I noted that for the first time in a long time we had a “First Kid in the White House and it would likely have an impact on the toy industry.

Well, that didn’t take long. Ty Inc., creators of the Beanie Babies craze, has introduced two new dolls that are named “Sweet Sasha” and “Marvelous Malia.” These 12” dolls have brown hair and brown eyes but, according to Ty, are not based upon the Obama daughters, who coincidentally are named Sasha and Malia.

Mrs. Obama is, according to a Washington Post article, “First Lady Assailes Use of Daughters’ Images for Dolls,” is, obviously, and I think understandably, not happy. She should not, however, be surprised. After all, the Baby Ruth candy bar  is named for Grover Cleveland’s daughter and not the baseball player.

We live in a free market economy and the Obama children are, due to their parents’ choice to be in the public eye, open game for anyone who wants to make a product based upon their names or images. It would be nice, however, if we as an industry gave these kids and their parents a pass. Being a little girl and having a candy bar named for you is kind of sweet (groan) but having a doll on store shelves that looks like you is, if not for the child, certainly for the parent, creepy.