• Wall Street Journal, Thursday, December 3, 2009 10:49 AM

Some parents are saying Mattel's new line of black dolls, called "So in Style," isn't black enough, despite the company's efforts to gather input from a number of high-profile black women, Ann Zimmerman reports. The criticism underscores how difficult it is for large commercial companies to please a widely diverse black community with a single image or two, she writes.

Five of the six dolls feature fine-textured, waist-length hair; half of them have blue or green eyes. All have the skinny body of a traditional Barbie.

"I thought it was unfortunate that once again we're given a doll with hair that is so unlike the vast majority of black women," says Cheryl Nelson-Grimes, the mother of a 7-year-old girl. But Stephanie Archer, a chapter vice president of Mocha Moms, defends the dolls. "Mattel did a good job getting the facial features right," she says.

"These dolls are a much better representation than what has been in the marketplace," says Mattel spokeswoman Michelle Chidoni. "But we hear the argument."

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