Kylie Jenner is now a Bratz doll – but why has she made herself Black?
On Monday (August 1st), Bratz announced its first-ever celebrity collaboration, featuring six “Bratzified” versions of the beauty mogul wearing some of her most iconic red carpet outfits, including her 2019 Met Gala lavender Versace dress.
However, fans have made a number of criticisms of the new doll, namely that its skin tone looks “too dark” for Jenner. People have also expressed on social media that they were disappointed that Bratz’s first celebrity collaboration was with Jenner, who is white, and not with a Black woman or a woman of colour. The American fashion doll franchise, which is owned by toy manufacturer MGA Entertainment, is often credited by fans for giving representation to Black women and Brown women.
“Kylie Jenner is a sicko,” one Twitter user began their rant. “Sis literally skimmed off the top of the entire Black girl aesthetic and is getting a BRATZ collection that’s not even based on her natural features.”
“Their first collaboration not being a Black woman but a white woman while having to darken the doll is CRAZY,” wrote another fan.
Another added: “Brown girls finally saw dolls that looked like them and you collab with a white woman…”
Some fans said they would have preferred to have seen collaborations with Rihanna, Ice Spice, or The Little Mermaid star Halle Bailey.
In a press release issued by MGA Entertainment on Monday (July 31st), Jenner said that she had been a Bratz fan since childhood and had always wanted to have her own doll. “I have loved every step of the process this past year in creating these dolls alongside the Bratz team. I’m so excited they are here!” she said.
Considering the dolls would have gone through endless checks and approvals prior to release, it’s rather astounding that nobody saw an issue with its skin tone before its release, especially Jenner herself.
