I was so excited about seeing Tyler Perry’s “For Colored Girls” that I got there as the movie ads were running. I was casually watching them, not really paying attention, until they aired the Barbie “I Can Be …” commercial. I was really excited about the message in the commercial, but as I watched, I became more and more disturbed by the commercial. Scene after scene I saw women doing big things – but only a handful (and that is giving them a few that weren’t really there) were minority girls and women. It made me question what message the commercial was sending to the little colored and minority girls who would encounter the commercial. I further was disturbed that the commercial was being aired in movie that would undoubtedly draw millions of African American and minority women to the theater.
African American and minority women have so many stereotypes to overcome. The positive message that is in Barbie’s “I Can Be …” commercial is one that would should have been uplifting for women of color, but instead it leaves us to question if they are really saying that only majority girls and women can be what they want to be in life.
As they say in Twitterland …#epicfail Barbie and Mattel for making a commercial that didn’t explore the diversity of the women in America … and for airing the commercial in a movie targeted at minority women.
