St Lucian doll maker criticised for dolls being ‘too dark’

Model Mala Bryan began her Black doll company Malaville in 2015, and her line features four dolls of different skin tones. While three of the dolls  – Mala, Malina and Mhina – are lighter skinned, one doll, Maisha, has a deeper hue. And one customer took issue with Maisha.

C. Lincoln posted a comment on YouTube saying “that one doll is a bit too dark” before assuming the imaginary fashion stylist was the “least best selling.”

A replying commentator defended the doll, pointing to Sudanese model Alek Wek’s success. Bryan responded to the screengrab on Instagram with positivity July 19. She let buyers with similar skin tones know “your black is beautiful.”

Sending lots of love to the beautiful dark skinned people out there, especially to those that share the same complexion as our #MaishaDoll just know that you black is beautiful, this comment really touched me today and I just needed to share it on here as well. Hopefully it will help us spread some extra love around. x MB #Repost @malabryan with @repostapp ??? So this comment was made about my #MaishaDoll. I was thinking about just ignoring it but I’m sharing just so that people realize that our super dark people must still be facing a huge problem. This is just sad. Although I got a compliment at the end, the person had the nerve to talk about her being the least selling when she actually my second best selling. Ugh!

A photo posted by Malaville Toys (@malavilledolls) on Jul 19, 2016 at 2:48pm PDT

“Sending lots of love to the beautiful dark skinned people out there, especially to those that share the same complexion as our #MaishaDoll,” Bryan wrote. “Hopefully, it will help us spread some extra love around.”

Many backed the fashion star – who also shared the screenshot on Facebook and revealed that the deep-toned doll is her second best seller behind Mala.

SOURCE: Atlanta Blackstar