I first saw this story on the Orlando Sentinel’s Moms at Work blog, but with a quick search found other stories like the one on NYDailyNews.com.

What do you think?

What is your initial reaction to the billboard?

Do you think it’s effective in getting their message across?

You may have to read the stories to find out the meaning behind the billboard.

Photo via NYDailyNews.com

It’s funny how the world sometimes reaches out to you. I’m not normally one to go around “looking for signs,” but sometimes you just can’t miss them.

Two months ago, I wrote about how brown dolls are not enough and we need more multicultural dolls.

This weekend, I came across an article titled Mattel introduces black Barbies. Introduces? It seemed odd since there have been black Barbies in the brand for a while. But, as the article’s opening line states, the So in Style dolls are “…a new line of black Barbie dolls with fuller lips, a wider nose and more pronounced cheek bones — a far cry from Christie, Barbie’s black friend who debuted in the 1960s and was essentially a white doll painted brown.”

Facial features. Going beyond just painting dolls brown. Finally!

The last connecting dot in all this is that the dolls’ designer, Stacey McBride-Irby, was just at the Blogalicious 2009 conference held this past weekend. So here I am on Monday, reading some of the conference recaps and the #blogalicious tweets and find myself circling back to the article I just read. And back to thinking about my baby girl and how she just might have a chance at seeing things differently growing up.

All of this on a day where part of the world celebrates and the other part watches Reconsider Columbus Day and nods their head in agreement.

It is encouraging to see that my baby girl will have dolls in her likeness to play with. And though I agree with the critique that the Barbie So in Style dolls have mostly long straight hair, I also see that there’s a huge improvement over the dolls I played with. Side note: two of the dolls do have short, curly hair, so I can see that it was given some thought. And my husband also pointed out just what the dolls’ designer had in mind – little girls love to comb their doll’s hair.

It is also encouraging to think that my daughter may not have to celebrate Columbus Day, but instead might have a chance at real education on the subject of Columbus and the history behind him “discovering” America. That is, in school, and not just supplemental education provided by my husband and I.

Most wouldn’t even connect these two. Dolls and Columbus day? But, the world calls out sometimes in a funny way and your mind connects the dots in an even more interesting manner.

So here I am. Feeling optimistic that my multicultural and bilingual daughter will be able to embrace both sides of her family, both cultures, and be loved by all as the Black and Latina woman she will become.

Watch these videos and consider the following questions:

• Why haven’t I seen any commercials for the dolls? The article was the first time I heard about them.
• Why haven’t I seen them in the stores? I was *just* in the Barbie aisle the other day at Target looking for a present for a birthday party we were attending Saturday. I do not remember seeing these dolls.
  • Edited 10/13/09: Ok, I went into a Target again last night and did see a few of the dolls.
• What will I teach my child(ren) about Christopher Columbus?

Reconsider Columbus Day

Barbie So-In-Style Dolls Friends Of Barbie Meet The Designer Part One

A few months back, Sheena of the Mommy Daddy Blog posted some results of a study that examined moms by race. In the post, only results of Caucasian and African American moms were included. So, I mentioned to Sheena that it would have been nice to know how Latina moms would have fared in such a study.

It turns out that the original study did include Hispanic moms.

The folks at BSM Media shared the full results with Sheena so that she could forward to me.

Here are some major findings of the study:

• Education and health care were listed as the primary concern  for the majority of all African American, Caucasian and Hispanic mothers. Hispanic moms (67%) responded that employment was another top concern.
• The top three challenges as a mother included saving for the future and the rising cost of food for all respondents. However, Caucasian moms named managing the desires of their children for material things as a challenge (45%), African American moms are battling with affordable housing (35%) and Hispanic moms are feeling challenged by the need for steady income (56%).
• While online, African American mothers are more likely to read articles (68%) and experience music (45%). Caucasian mothers are likely to frequent social networks (45%) and message boards (43%). Blogs were the top choice among Hispanic Moms (55%) followed by social networks (42%).
• When an African American mom catches a rare free moment, she is most likely to read (77%), Caucasian moms are most likely to surf the Internet (77%) and Hispanic moms enjoy spending time with their spouses (78%).
• When asked about their ultimate indulgences, Caucasian moms listed a rich dessert (48%) and a fine bottle of wine (40%) among their top treats. African American moms would rather indulge by sleeping late (60%) or getting away for the weekend (35%). Hispanic moms choose to treat themselves with spa treatments (50%) or long, hot baths (50%).
• Although the majority of all moms have made household adjustments to cope with the family crisis, African American moms are more likely to delay major purchases (57%) and avoid stores to reduce shopping (54%). Caucasian moms are coping by using coupons and discount codes (73%) and driving fewer places to conserve gas (62%). The most popular coping strategy among Hispanic moms is also using coupons (80%) but delaying major purchases is also common (68%).
• Overall, Caucasian and Hispanic moms think marketers are doing a better job in speaking to them than African American moms.

More information on the study can be found at the Marketing to Moms Blog by BSM Media, though their post also doesn’t include the results of Hispanic moms.

Do the results surprise you? Do you find the differences from one race to the other interesting?

Photo by brandysnow