MH Catty Noir - Racist?

[Emfen]

Firstly your friend needs to understand racism, to my knowledge Ms Catty don't seem to have any ties to Africa nor a defined connection to any country or heritage. She is simply a black cat.
Things that define racism/hate is stereotyping, or making the character seem less for their background, things that can be subtle, which again don't fit your new doll. As you said Clawdeen is of color, but your friend didn't respond to that - but going on her basis, aren't all MH dolls of color with beast features bad? I mean if they are suggesting people of color are being portrayed as beasts, then surely all dolls of color would be outrageous? 
I'd like to think MH stepped out of the "racial box" (don't like that word in general), and tried to show us a world where things aren't just black and white but many shades of gray. I think you and your friend needs to talk throughoutly and take a look at the whole picture ask her about all the other dolls for example. Ask her if she finds it okay if all dolls of color were removed from the line? I don't think she see the issue in removing them on the basis of racism, because in the end we'll have a line of only pale dolls, which is what I would call racist.
What I'm trying to say is it's not the color that's the issue but the stereotypes assigned to certain groups of heritage, which in itself is terrible. 

[Rosencrantz]

Oh yeah, if you didn't know she was meant to be a catgirl, she really does look a lot like a stylized gollywog. I get why your friend thought that.

I think green or yellow would have been a better idea to go with, because of those vivid eyes that black cats can have, especially with the red mouths that they give gollywogs.

Just a misunderstanding.

[Zapper]

I think green or yellow would have been a better idea to go with, because of those vivid eyes that black cats can have, especially with the red mouths that they give gollywogs.

The thing is that Catty had to be pink because that's what dealers want for girls. Let's all remember Pinklestia. Black is a color most people wouldn't associate with a "girl product", especially not with a fashion doll line, so the designers had to make her all pink and glam to "make up for" her pitch black coat. They managed to do that pretty well by giving her the mirror shard theme. Mirror shards can double for diamonds

In my experience many more people had a negative reaction to Wydowna Spider's red lipstick. Hence why her new doll's lips will be blue. Catty paved the way for an all-black doll in the line-up, which is great because now Wydowna doesn't need to be pink, too.

[Rosencrantz]

I think green or yellow would have been a better idea to go with, because of those vivid eyes that black cats can have, especially with the red mouths that they give gollywogs.

The thing is that Catty had to be pink because that's what dealers want for girls. Let's all remember Pinklestia. Black is a color most people wouldn't associate with a "girl product", especially not with a fashion doll line, so the designers had to make her all pink and glam to "make up for" her pitch black coat. They managed to do that pretty well by giving her the mirror shard theme. Mirror shards can double for diamonds

I was just saying to avoid the gollywog look. See, they tend to be pure black dolls with huge red lips and big white eyes.

I'm not their marketing director, I'm too busy trying to take over DC comics with the power of my mind.

[Zapper]

Yes, I understand. All I was trying to say is that they probably were so concerned to make her as pink as possible and match the make-up with the rest of her look that they completely missed the unfortunate implications.

And like I said, they did receive some flak for making Wydowna's lips red and responded to that by making the lips of her new doll blue.
Apparently they didn't get too much flak for Catty, because her new doll's lips are once again a shade of pink.
Usually MH is one of those doll lines that are more on the progressive side and the designers are in touch with the fanbase, so they pick up on negative reactions quickly.

[Sprinklecupcake]

Awe im sorry your friend thinks that! I have a coworker who thinks its a 'racist doll' too only because of the big pink lips, black plastic, and glam outfit. I feel bad for people who cannot see the true beauty of this doll, shes like a work of art! Shes supposed to be a friday the thirteenth bad-luck black cat popstar and she is absolutly beautiful! She is my favorite doll in my collection tbh! 

Her bio is really cool, although she does seem to strongly represent an african american pop singer she is just a black cat and doesnt seem to discrminate any of my friends who are africian american ;-) in fact they LOVE her!

[Zapper]

Yeah, she's inspired by Nicki Minaj's "Barbie" character. Maybe that is also a reason some people suspected Blackface.
I already dread the next Friday The 13th doll, who is gonna be a green witch based on one of Beyonce Knowles' characters. I can already see some people try to make a link between being black and black magic, just like some groups hated on Skelita for being a skeleton and supposedly "making anorexia fashionable" :/

[kCherry]

Please post all Monster High topics in the MHArena,
http://mlparena.com/mlp/index.php/board,190.0.html
-Cherry