Online retailer Amazon was caught once again hawking a product with a glaringly racist description that somehow went undetected. This time the company missed the description of a child’s doll that denigrated its braided hair.
Amazon has told TMZ that the product, along with its offensive description has been removed from its site, but one has to wonder how it slipped through the cracks in the first place.
The description of a 14-inch figurine meant to depict a little Black girl with braids was being sold on Amazon’s digital marketplace. However, the wording of the description was disconcerting, to say the least.
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Before being yanked from the site, the description read: “Doli Yearning 14-inch Adorable Black Doll with Casual Red Skirt and Colored Dirty Braid Fashion Gorgeous Doll for Ages 3+ Interactive Playtime BPA Free Safety Product Well-Designed Collectible Box.” The words “Colored Dirty Braid Fashion” should have raised a red flag, but apparently passed inspection until consumers noticed and began to complain.
According to TMZ, Doli Yearning is a Chinese company that has been affiliated with Amazon for less than a year.
In the description of Doli Yearning’s white dolls, there is no mention of their skin color or hair. For example, a doll that has blond hair rolled into a bun, was only described as as wearing a denim suit and colored headbands. There were similar descriptions for the other “white dolls.”
The issue with racist descriptions on products sold by Amazon has come up in the past, and yet there continues to be a gap in the company’s filtering process.
Back in August 2020, the company faced backlash when the color of an Oxford shoe was described as “Ni**er Brown.”
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Amazon partners with millions of merchandisers and one could argue that it’s next to impossible to weed out the hateful descriptions, but with the insane amount of wealth that CEO Jeff Bezos has amassed, it would appear that the company could put forth a lot more effort.
Amazon did not immediately respond to theGrio’s request for comment.
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