I'm no economist, but I have a basic understanding of supply, demand and pricing. Still, there's something that sits wrong with me when Amazon.com charges one price for a white doll, another price for an African-American doll and still another for a Latina doll (see here). The "Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Walk & Giggle Doll" with pale skin and blond hair is $64.89. The same doll with dark hair and dark skin is $100. The "child" for the set costs $59.99 for an African-American "baby" and $64.99 for what Mattel calls the "Hispanic" baby.
On the Mattel site, the "little mommy" dolls and the "baby" dolls are not price-differentiated by race (image source = Mattel site here).
A local television station in Texas covered the story (here) and contacted Amazon.
When asked about the prices, a representative with Amazon.com stated, "prices change all the time and prices often vary on different variations of the same model number."
They cited examples like a brand of pots that had a difference of $19 between two colors and a toy learning system that had a difference of $49.20 between a version targeted at boys versus girls.
What is the difference between a pot and a doll? Lots, if you take seriously the possibility that toys can impact children's development of racial and gender identities (see, e.g., here, here and here).
Amazon is not responsible for the toys parents select. Yet "consumer choice" is a complex product of availability, distribution and pricing, among other factors.
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