Ty, the toy company responsible for the Beanie Baby madness maybe showing is desperation in the shameless marketing of its two new dolls. Two African American dolls named Sasha and Malia. It just so happens that those are the names of the Obama daughters. The media, the American public and Michelle Obama herself have caught on to this right away and there has been a public outcry. Using the presidential children to market your product without their or their parents consent is pretty pathetic.

But here is what’s worse. Ty says they did not name the dolls after the Obama daughters and that they will not reveal the source of their inspiration for the names because all product development including name choices are “proprietary”. Notice to corporate america or any company for that matter; when you get your hand caught in the cookie jar, far better to come clean than try to stonewall. This one is pretty easy to see through and Ty only looks idiotic with their straight out of corporate marketing statement. I would rather Ty said something like, America is excited by the Obama presidency and we wanted to honer the Obama kids with their own Ty dolls. At least that would make some kind of sense. This is the New Media age Ty. It’s time for transparency and honesty not hiding behind meaningless corporate statements. I am very dissapointed and I won’t be buying any Ty products anytime soon.