Do American Girl dolls of Color Sell Poorly?

Every year, American Girl fans anticipate the next American Girl Girl of the Year, the new annual modern doll that has come out since the beginning of the 21st Century. She usually comes with her own collection and set of books. What makes these dolls different from the historical dolls are that they reflect modern girls. The modern stories tend to lack the depth and length that the historical stories have.

In January 2014, American Girl disappointed many fans with Isabelle, an inspiring dancer. She was very uninteresting to most folks. 1) Girl of the year 2005 was a dancer. 2) Isabelle was another boring blonde in pink. It’s not that American Girl is crawling with blondes. It was just too predictable. Fans were hoping for something a little more original. To add, her features weren’t very unique. She didn’t have short hair or a ponytail or pigtails. She was marketed in an unoriginal way. Everything about her reminded everyone of another doll released in American Girl. I’ve heard comparisons to Kailey, Julie, Lanie…Which can’t be helped. Sometimes, American Girl has to repeat itself. But did she have to wear pink and dance? No.

Read my article: Do Blonde dolls sell better?

Many people are pushing for variety in the Girl of the Year line. A lot of people asked for an African American character. American Girl just now decided to create one in 2017.

Out of all of the dolls that have been released in the last 10 years, not one has been of African American descent. People were hoping that 2015 would be the year. Yet, there were many others who doubted American Girl would even try, including myself.

The question is: Why has Mattel waited so long to create a modern African American character? To put it honestly, black dolls don’t sell as well as the other dolls in the American Girl historical/Beforever collection. Even if you mosey on over to americangirl.com, enter into the “Shop” page, go under the “Bookstore” section, scroll down to “Historical Fiction”, and look at the word “Sort” and scroll down to “Most Popular”, Addy’s books are not even listed on the first two pages. At one time, when the other American Girl dolls were around (Kirsten, Molly, Felicity, Marie-Grace, and the Best Friend dolls), Addy was even further behind. Since those girls have been archived, Addy’s listings are higher in the books section. Still, the American Girl historical dolls sell low as it is. The minorities fall behind.

Go under the “Furniture” section. Addy’s bed is among the last of the Beforever listed. Addy is even among the last when you go under the “Dolls” section on the “Shop” page. Scroll all the way down to the “Dolls for ages 8+” on the bottom left-hand side. Go to “Sort” by “Most Popular”. You can clearly see that all of the Beforever dolls are popular at the moment, BUT the minorities are among the least popular in the collection. Imagine if Molly and Felicity were around!

http://store.americangirl.com/agshop/html/thumbnail/id/253/uid/143/view/3

Many argue that this just doesn’t apply to African American dolls, but Asian and Hispanic/Latino dolls in the Beforever line as well. None of the minorities are on the first two pages of the “Historical Fiction” section. The first two pages consist of white girls. There are Caucasian girls listed on the back pages, but the only Caucasians on the back pages are the ones that are Archived. All of the minorities are right before them. Kaya, Rebecca, and Josefina sadly have even lower listings than Addy. And this is just for books, which are prices cheaper than the dolls.

American Girl has sold more than 147 million books since 1986. They have only sold a fraction of that number when it comes to dolls, 25 million to be exact, in that same amount of time. And Addy is not topping either list. Being at the bottom of the book list carries a different tone than the doll list, where they’ve sold less. So where does Addy’s world fit into both stats? You do the math.

http://www.americangirl.com/corp/corporate.php?section=about&id=6

Since the Historical/Beforever collection is the “heart” of the brand, it is the main factor when American Girl Company is deciding what will sell or not.

This does not apply to the My American Girl line, where the black girls sell pretty well. More on this later…

The Beforever line seems to have the hardest time.

There could be two reasons for this:

1) American Girl Beforever does not appeal to African American children or households.

2) American Girl Beforever is too expensive, and minority families are less willing to pay the price for dolls.

3) The “majority” doesn’t connect with the minority enough to help support them.

As an African American myself, I have to say that, growing up, the first two points really struck my household as true. I was introduced to American Girl at a young age in the 1990’s. Back then, the prices were lower, but we still didn’t want to invest in these dolls. I got two dolls, and that was it. When I got older, I extended my collection. Most people I talk to that are of my same ethnicity say the same thing: “I am not spending that kind of money for a doll. My child will be fine with a Disney doll”.

Price is one thing, but the appeal of American Girl is not catching on to the African American community, either.

The reasons vary. They are not all related, either.

One reason is that the few American Girls that are black and a part of American Girl have provided stereotypical versions of African Americans for years. While Addy, the 1864 slave girl, exposes young black girls to a real part of African American history, some African Americans took offense during the time when she was the only African American represented (back in the 1990’s when she was the only black doll). Many African Americans wanted to be known for more than being uneducated slaves. They felt it was a hurtful and poor reminder of the oppression and segregation experienced by black people. “Like, why does the black girl have to be the slave?” They were ashamed of this. Other races are afraid to invest in Addy because her stories deal with racial issues so heavily. So, Addy was controversial since debut. Since African Americans didn’t take off with Addy, many didn’t follow the brand through. Many are just now hearing about the new doll, Cecile, the wealthy girl of color, and Melody, the Civil Rights Era doll because they only remember the brand when it had Addy, the slave girl.

I will say this is the same with Kaya. I get so many Native American people telling me they hate Kaya because she falls into stereotypes, though she represents a real part of their history and ACTUAL culture! It was the same with Ivy.

Addy (left, 1864)and Cecile (right, 1853)

The truth is, as proud as people are of their personal heritage, many people want to be defined and labeled by something other than their ethnicity. They are struggling to find an American identity in this modern world, where race is no longer something that can define a person’s successes or failures as much as it used to. While people would be offended if their races weren’t represented, people would equally be angry if that doll was stereotypical in nature! And then people would be contradictory and end up offended if the doll wasn’t realistic or true to the culture at all! Even with Cecile, there were still black people who thought Cecile was glossing over the struggles of black people! Addy was too harsh, and Cecile wasn’t harsh enough!

Read More about that here: American Girl Black History Month

With so many divisions, this divides the money as well. Thus, the sale of the doll depends on how well she is executed. Most companies don’t want to take this risk. Thus, they risk less by omitting an ethnicity altogether.

The main reason why divisions occur inside an ethnicity could be because there are not ENOUGH ethnic dolls to represent a diverse group of people. Even black people are multi-faceted. There are millions of white dolls to represent the diverse viewpoints and personalities of various Caucasian people. With only one or two black dolls, black people are forced to connect with one of the two dolls based on skin or culture, even if the dolls are marketed in a way that doesn’t connect necessarily with every black girl’s personality or interests. If there were more black dolls, sales of minority dolls would increase, as people would begin to recognize the company as being diverse in their collection of “black personalities”.

This is very evident when we see the success of the Bratz dolls. The Latin/Hispanic/Jewish dolls sell far more than the blonde and white dolls. There are many diverse Latin/Hispanic characters to choose from, thus the sales of the Hispanic dolls have increased, and they continue to make more. Even Clawdeen and her whole ware-wolf family from Monster High, relatively dark-skinned dolls, are some of the best sold in the line next to the brunette Draculaura. Why hasn’t this success translated to American Girl?

American Girl struggles to connect with the diversity within one ethnicity. For instance, Addy is smart and family-oriented. A black girl who doesn’t like school or isn’t family-oriented would not connect with her. I connect with Addy because her skin is like mine, but as a writer, I can’t help but be drawn to Kit more. Black girls are not marketed in a way that reveals more than the color of their skin. Diversity brings more diverse customers. This goes for all of the other ethnic dolls. In order to find a middle ground, market researchers would have to dig deep and find out just what appeals to most ethnic children. However, many researchers would rather take the easy route. Many people just end up buying a My American Girl doll anyway, where children can make her into anything they want.

A second reason for the poor sales could be the way these ethnic minorities are marketed. The modern dolls sell more than the historical dolls as it is, but even within the historical line, the 20th Century girls sell better than the 18th and 19th Century girls. All of the Caucasian dolls sold within the 18th and 19th Centuries have been discontinued (Felicity, Caroline, Kirsten, Marie-Grace, Elizabeth). But most of the ethnic minorities have dolls that represent the unpopular centuries (Kaya, Josefina, Addy). Though dolls from the 20th Century have been discontinued, one (Samantha) has been brought back, and no one would be shocked if the other ones from the 20th Century came back. Therefore, it would be more advantageous for dolls of color to represent eras that existed in the 20th Century. This is why there was a push for a Civil Rights Era doll of color. Sure, you can argue that Ivy was from the 20th Century, and no, she wasn’t successful. But then again, she was just a “side-kick” doll without a collection all her own or a full book series.

American Girl also needs to take better care of the minority characters they produce. American Girl should give their next wealthy girl of color or their Asian doll a complete collection all to herself. They had the opportunity to make so many glamorous accessories and playsets for their last wealthy girl of color. Did they take advantage of it? No. They had the opportunity to make their 1970’s girl Asian. Did they? No.

In the modern Girl of the Year collection, American Girl just recently added Gabriela McBride. We can’t determine her success until the end of the year. But the ethnic dolls that have existed have been Marisol, Jess, Sonali, and Kanani. Jess and Sonali did not sell well. Marisol and Kanani did. I should say Kanani sold better than Isabelle.

Let’s observe the two dolls that didn’t sell well versus the ones who did.

Jess was not marketed in girlish, glittery colors like Marisol and Kanani, neither was Jess’s story appealing to little girls, though it was my favorite. It was also not a huge collection. But for once, Jess was recognized as the daughter of archaeologists, not the Japanese girl (though she is bi-racial)! And yet, people were still disappointed she didn’t have any items representing her heritage…

Sonali was a best friend doll. She represented a girl who was originally a snob and became a friend. Of course she wouldn’t be appealing! She had no story collection and was not the main character of the movie. She was also a side-kick doll, like Ivy. She only came with one outfit.

So, those two dolls didn’t sell well. But the other two dolls did…

Marisol was a dancer, which is appealing to little girls, and ballet is especially appealing. That’s why American Girl thought they could do it again.

Kanani was just stylish overall. She also had a summertime collection that could bust out the lively colors and outdoor accessories and playsets.

Four dolls, four different results, and different marketing approaches. But one thing is certain: We can’t determine the outcome of the sale of a doll that hasn’t been tried yet. We can only deduce how the company will handle it based on the execution of their other dolls. So far, the chances of success are there if the company tries hard enough. It’s difficult, but not impossible. They have had at least two dolls of color fair well in GOTY.

There are other examples of American Girl’s success with dolls of color. If we go on American Girl.com, mosey on over to the “Shop” section, click the “My American Girl” link, “search the dolls by item” number, which is the same as pressing the “Start the Fun” button, you will see a list of dolls. At the top, you can sort that list in any way you want, but one selection is by popularity. The top three most popular dolls include a dark-skinned doll! In fact, the first page has two dark-skinned dolls and one medium-skinned doll listed! These three dolls are very popular, so American Girl is selling some darker dolls very well. They are modern. If they do what they did for these dolls, perhaps they could sell more.

If they gave the ethnic minority girls more appealing collections, lovable personalities, a movie wouldn’t hurt, and friendlier stories, girls (and their parents) would cave and buy them, just like they did with Marisol and Kanani.

On the same token, if the people themselves accept the doll, and she represents both the historical aspect and a modern aspect, perhaps both sides of an ethnic division could easily support the doll.

The newest Girl of the Year 2017, Gabriela McBride, may be just the doll to bring that flavor.

I still think American Girl should at least try its hand at producing more African American characters. If it doesn’t work, at least they will have the satisfaction of knowing they tried. Really, it doesn’t seem to improve much from having a blonde character. American Girl’s market share spiraled down 10% in 2014. Isabelle is the least sold GOTY, and she is blonde and pink! People are looking for change, and I think now is the time to give it. Even Lea couldn’t sell out in 2016.

My overall conclusion: The only reason the Beforever dolls sell poorly is because of representation, execution, and poor marketing. The black dolls in the My American Girl line sell better than the black dolls in the Beforever line.Therefore, the likelihood that a modern black girl could sell well is higher than if she’s in the Beforever line.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think? What are your predictions for future GOTYs?

Read my other article: Do blonde dolls sell better?

Racism in England Against Pakistanians and Indians

This is pathetic. These little boys need belt whippings immediately. I would like to see these kids try to make it in a different country.

I get so tired of ignorant English-speaking (and when I say English-speaking people, I mean the US too) people who treat immigrants or people from immigrant families like dirt.  English people think of themselves as being superior. And they are always the first to cry, “Why are you here when you can’t speak the language?” (Even though many of Pakistanian and Indian blood were born in England and America). English speaking people (including Americans) can barely speak their OWN language, much rather try to tell a foreigner how to speak. Many of them speak broken English that NO ONE can understand. I went up to a supposedly English speaking person, and the first thing they say is, “You Ain’t.” Wow. Really good English.

Also, these people make these claims on lands. PAH! This is everyone’s land, and anyone can live anywhere they want to. That’s how the Native Americans used to think, and they are right. And when you think about it that way, who says where Pakistanians and Indians belong? Who makes these rules?

And judging how many English have moved across the border in the past, colonizing lands that didn’t “belong” to them, wiping nations out so they can own lands…they really need to shut up.

And of course, this isn’t directed to ALL English people. I know there are probably some English people who have sense and intelligence. But for those of you who think this behavior is acceptable, you really need a rude awakening. Justice needs to be served.

All of this behavior was spurred on by stereotypes about Pakistanians and Indians, things that aren’t even true of all of them. Just like all English people aren’t racist, all Pakistanians are not a like. You should meet each person for who they are, and then decide how the person is. But you can’t judge one person through a group of people, especially out of millions of people.

Next article will be on this video…

I hate Females….

Aside from the fact that I am a woman, I am starting to hate women.

Well, yes, hate is a strong word. So let me just say there are some  things that I strongly dislike about my own gender.

First off, the thing that I know will irritate me is the flock of hypocritical women who will read this post and bombard it with negative responses about “feminism” and how men should appreciate women and blah blah, only to find I’m not a lonely, heart-sick man who is fed up with women because he bitterly resents the women who rejected him or have left him….

No, I seriously have just allowed myself to be honest with myself. I dislike women. I somewhat regret “feminism”. The only reason I hold myself to it is to help rape victims, women who want to own homes, get good respectable jobs, and pay for their own homes and cars without their husband’s name. Other than that…well, I feel it has become a joke.

Women, just like black people, pull the “prejudice” card, and have almost taken this feminist thing to the extreme. To the point that it seems they really are not even thinking about the men. Women have double standards…..and this is most frequent among my ethnicity (just guess…you know it, African American)….but all women seem to take men for granted nowadays. Some of these women are so demanding that it’s sickening.

I recently watched a video called Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. And what I saw….the women were the problem most of the time. They were nagging, complaining, emotional, and so demanding. It was like they expected the man to be perfect. Those women made ME want to pull out my hair.

Another double standard women have is they feel it is alright to be a “Cougar”, as it is glamorized on media with shows like Cougar Club, which “cougar” means an older woman who likes to pursue a younger male. But if an older male pursues a young female who’s aged 20, he’s a “rapist”, like R. Kelly.

In How Stella Got Her Groove Back, it was okay for that older women to love a man who was in his 20’s, but that carries stigma with males.

Another thing is women are so superficial. They have really ruined media. They are the most boring creators. There are not very many diverse subjects among women. I have noticed since women took over most of television with Networks like Lifetime, MTV, and Disney Channel that all of the shows are the same. 1) A Reality show 2) A reality sitcom 3) A Drama 4) Contest reality show 5)Talk Shows…..that’s all women like, and that is all they can come up with. Boring. Uninteresting. And leads to there being hardly any variety on television anymore. And lately, all of the girls who get all of the fame as celebrities are the stuck-up, wannabe pop stars within these female-geared shows. Women usually play the characters with all the money and the stank attitudes. For some reason, the females like those rich girls with stank attitudes.

Like….look at New York. She is funny, true enough, but now we have thousands of reality media personality imitations….because women don’t like variety as much as males do.

As far as women-geared genres, the genres will more than likely be slapstick comedy, drama some more, romance….and that’s it. The only time women like adventure is if some “cute guy” is in it…and even then it is more than likely for the romance of it all….When I turn to even Disney Channel, I see a repeat of slapstick sitcoms with endless hours of teenage girls googling over guys, becoming addicted to shopping, and whining and complaining about their life. There aren’t shows anymore like So Weird, where the main female character never had a boyfriend, could give a rat’s cock about shopping, but loved mystery and the paranormal. Or Shelby Woo who loved to solve mysteries more than anything. But guess who was running Disney Channel back then? A male. Guess who is running it now? A female.

Same with their choice of music. Most women choose their favorite celebrities and singers based on HOW THEY LOOK. Take Justin Bieber for instance. Most girls have confessed, without knowing it, that they only like him for his looks. Why else would this cliche, generic, wannabe hip-hopper be so popular? Teeny Bopper girls think he is cute. They don’t usually say anything about his music, don’t say anything about his songwriting, don’t even mention his career….OH, But he’s cute…which has nothing to do with music. And now the music world is so polluted with the female “frame of mind”,  they have got the world thinking that looks matter in a MUSIC INDUSTRY. That’s why I think they combined the MODELING industry with it now because that’s all women care about. Which leads to bias…because it makes the music industry “political”, and it makes it harder for the “real” talents to actually get their break, especially if they don’t have the “look”. Which is the reason I think we have crappy artists who can’t sing, write music, or play instruments, and if they can, aren’t famous for it because they heavily synthesize their voices and use computer programming for their music….

And with all of their superficiality, it’s no wonder they end up with horrible men. Women are always missing up the good, nice, shy guys for these charming, handsome, idiotic, low-lives who don’t give a crap about the girls. They have sex, and move from girl to girl, while you are thinking he loves you and wants to spend his life together forever with you. Every good guy doesn’t have to look good. In fact, that is the worst thing to look at first. That is a blind way to look at things…..which is why usually women make poor choices in mates. Look at Lizzie Maguire….she used to like Ethan Craft before she realized after bad choices that Gordo was the one…Sadly, for most women, it’s too late to change from your superficial habits…twats….

Males are different. They like not only reality, like current events, but sports, cartoons, sci-fi, adventure, action, music, drama (like TNT), comedy, horror and others without having just romance. Back when Disney Channel was ran by males, there were so many different types of shows, such variety. Now? Just shoot me.

Another thing I hate about women is they always want to cry and act crazy when a man hits them, but when they hit a man, it’s for a “good reason” and they usually feel they shouldn’t have to suffer. The police usually believes the women too, rather than believe a man got hit. Like the Rihanna and Chris Brown issue. Rihanna scratched Chris first, and he defended himself, but got the brunt of it all. And people went by a photo as evidence, which could’ve been photo-shopped on the internet (which I recently tried, it’s very easy). It’s alright to hit a man, but not alright to hit a woman? Bull. Ladies, if you are swinging irons around, hitting someone, cursing someone out, pushing someone, punching them, and jumping their backs….one or the other is going to happen: either he is going to run, hold you down, or slap you. Now if he runs, why do some women have the nerve to follow? Then you are either going to be run over by his car as he’s leaving or slapped or ignored and he will move on. But that kind of abuse is rarely reported to the police, even though some women are dead wrong….And then women want to cry equality in one breath, and go “OOOOHHH HE HIT ME!” In another breath. How do you think women won the vote in suffrage? Alice Paul, the leader along the Turn of the Twentieth Century, spurred controversy. When the “bull cops” came, she LET them beat her. She smiled and said, “Come on, hit me like you would a man.” Why? Because she truly believed in equality. And when they were going to go easy on her and not send her to jail, she said “No, send me to jail like you do all the other men.” Some people thought she was crazy. But she truly believed in equality. These stupid hypocritical women are “afraid” of equality.

And why do women demand all of this attention when they want it, but barely give the man any when he wants it? Is it a pride thing? A man is supposed to remember to give you flowers every Valentines Day, Christmas, Birthdays, and every Friday, but you have never done anything for him? I suggest to women that before they make demands on others, they should think about what they do to contribute to the relationship. Start with the woman in the mirror.

The media has convinced women that all men are dogs, are idiots, only think about sports and themselves…but it’s not true all the time.

Another thing I hate is that when women are fans of something, instead of coming up with logical, reasonable, explanation why they like/dislike something someone, they go in an emotional rampage. Like Justin Bieber fans. Instead of even having reasons for liking him, they simply yell “He’s cute, and I love him, and he loves me!” While that is admirable, that is ridiculously insignificant.

Or maybe they say, “He’s a nice, cute kid, and you are just jealous because he is famous.” Well, tell me, genius, what does that have to do with music or his professional career? Why become a professional, and not get criticized on your work so you can improve?

That’s why “kids” shouldn’t be in the music industry…..because of the stupidity of people who support them.

Then the biggest reason why I hate females is because of soccor moms. They have ruined media, too. They only want the media to be one way: “conservative”. They got rid of shows like So Weird and movies like Don’t Look Under the bed on Disney Channel through a petition. Ironically, those were the only shows with female heroines, but “moms” said it was “not appropriate”…..And yet shows like Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place, and ICarly get no complaints whatsoever….though they are material-driven females, who obsess over boys, and promote spoiled and whiny kids who try to get their way all the time…..but no. Women, for some reason, don’t want to watch “strong” females do something like the “guys”……

At least movies have an improvement, though it seems women are just a bunch of sex icons, and serve no other purpose than to take off all of their clothes and screw the main character (male)…..Hey, at least the majority of them today have finally wielded a gun and sword….

A white person being nominated at the BET Awards???

Should it be or should it not be a controversy? That is the question.

This year, the BET awards have had mixed reviews. A lot of people hated last year’s BET MJ tribute because first off it was unorganized. But this year:

This year also had the biggest MJ tribute by Chris Brown, which brought his reputation back.

Now, should this really be a controversy?

I’m going to say this. In today’s generation, as I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, is a generation that has opened their minds. “Free Your Mind” comes to mind by En Vogue when I think of this generation. This generation is color blind. So, for people like Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez to be nominated at a BET award is nothing to the generation that feels we are all equal and united within the human race. That is reality. It is a great dream, and a great way to think about the world. Many little black girls love Justin Bieber just as much as the little white girls. And so, it has become a part of the black nation to listen to all kinds of music instead of just the “stereotypical” black music, like rap, hip-hop, and R&B.

What is disturbing is that, like I said in older entries about Network channels, check under the movie and television sections, is that the Network “leaders” can’t seem to read their own channels. Why do I say this? It’s because BET is BLACK Entertainment…and you see white people being nominated? Not that I have anything against it, but stick to your Network title so you won’t confuse people. It’s like MTV who doesn’t air music, Cartoon Network who is now airing Live actions and no variety cartoons, and Disney not showing anything Disney-related like Mickey Mouse.

Another reason they should consider nominating black people is because naturally black people are not that popular in the nation we live in. Black people need some exposure. As “equal” as we want to be, naturally the nation’s majority is white, and naturally white people don’t like everything “black”. Lady Gaga over En Vogue…Taylor Swift over Corinne Bailey Ray… Paramore over FeFe Dopson….truly, it is the blond, blue eyes that seems to top the charts much more frequently this year than any other look….so yes, it would be nice for some blacks to be nominated…

However, truly it’s all in one’s perception of “black”. Is this Network about showing people what black people are doing today? Yes, this is Black Entertainment, but it all goes back to what blacks are being entertained by, right? So what do they like nowadays? As people actually begin to “equalize” the “majority” begins to dominate. Why? Because naturally, everyone begins to take ideas from each other, and the “white” race’s ideas are the majority. They own a large amount of businesses, and have serious financial power in the US. Maybe…just maybe blacks aren’t being entertained by other blacks…maybe they are more entertained by Bieber…

Or is this Network about SHOWING only black entertainment? Meaning black people who are contributing to the Entertainment industry? If this is the case….they messed up the BET awards AGAIN.

It also goes back to the title “Black”. Do they mean you have to be of the “ethnicity” or the culture? There is a distinct difference. The African American classify themselves as “black”. Anybody who had ancestors that came from Africa would be considered black. Of course, there are white people who were born in Africa, and move to the US. I’m not sure if they would be classified as African American or black…but they wouldn’t be classified as “black”, so… though blacks come in all shades…Well, anyone of darker skin. We’ll put it like that.

But as far as the culture goes, anyone can be raised in a culture of people and look nothing like them. Though I am of African decent, I was born and raised in America, therefore, without my intention, my culture is American. However, African American is a culture, and it is not as exclusive as a “color”. Many people can be born and raised in the African American culture, having been exposed to African rooted music, styles, language, and other forms of entertainment. With that being said, BET could be expressing how our culture is influencing the world. Though Bieber and Eminem are white, they have taken into styles that were generally “black-dominated” and made it their own.

Whether that is a good thing or bad thing is up to the reader.

Some people say it’s bad because now “white people” will take over everything, and “blacks” will dominate nothing. Some people are not as exclusive, and feel that it’s good because it shows just how much African Americans influence the Entertainment industry. I mean, without black people (and good looks), Justin Bieber would not be this famous. Literally, his music is nothing special.

But see, that’s the only problem I have with BET. They are just throwing up any artist who is famous. But Justin Bieber…it’s obvious he only got famous for his looks. His music is nothing special, and without that cute “baby doll” face, he would not be as popular as he is. His music is…crap, plain and simple. Lyrics are cheesy, weak, and unoriginal. His whole genre is generic, and kind of another Usher tune. I might as well listen to other artists. And no fan, not one, can tell me why Justin Bieber is so special without bringing up his looks….I mean, this is quite a superficial generation. What are we teaching our kids America?

But that’s my thoughts on this issue. I praise Chris Brown for having the courage to face that crowd and make a tribute to Michael Jackson. Quite brave of him.

Surprised I didn’t see Beyonce or Jay-Z.

I really think BET awards should cancel. It’s just another Grammys. If white people can be at both, then BET awards is just another Grammys. The whole point of BET is to promote black people…I would hope so. Maybe the goals of the network has changed. But if that’s the case, get rid of it, and stick to the Grammys.