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Post by Fraternal Design on Jan 11, 2008 13:38:50 GMT -5
Barbie rushes in
DEALS | Alpha Kappa Alpha's centennial spurs Mattel to make doll
January 11, 2008
BY CHERYL V. JACKSON cjackson@suntimes.com
In the midst of a makeover and prepping for the ultimate birthday, the nation's oldest predominantly-black Greek-lettered sorority has turned the head of none other than Barbie.
Mattel Inc. will make a collectable Barbie based on Chicago-headquartered Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
» Click to enlarge image
Mattel Inc. will make a collectible Barbie based on Chicago-headquartered Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.
(AP)
Mattel sought licensing for the doll -- the first in the company's flagship brand based on any sorority and any predominately black organization -- upon learning that Alpha Kappa Alpha is marking its 100th anniversary this year, said Elizabeth Grampp, director of Barbie collector marketing.
"When you pair that milestone with an organization representing an amazing cross section of women who are empowered leaders in any field, it's a real opportunity to introduce the hobby of collecting to a new group of collectors," Grampp said. "It's such a landmark event."
The doll will be dressed in an evening gown. Prominent in the ensemble will be pink and green, official colors of the sorority, which kicks off its centennial celebration in Washington, D.C., Saturday.
Alpha Kappa Alpha was founded Jan. 15, 1908 by students at Howard University.
Over the century, the group has inducted more than 200,000 women, including corporate managers, politicians, university presidents, Hull House founder Jane Adams, civil rights activists Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King, author Maya Angelou and humanitarian Eleanor Roosevelt. The president of the group is a mainstay on Ebony magazine's annual list of most influential blacks in America.
Still, on college campuses members are called "pretty girls," and have accounted for four of the past seven black Miss Americas.
The doll will cost about $50, and be available through BarbieCollector.com, the Barbie Collector catalog and other outlets and partnership with the sorority.
Design for the doll, which the sorority selected from three submissions, will be unveiled at the organization's 100 anniversary celebration next week in Washington, D.C.
The Mattel partnership -- one of several corporate deals -- comes as the organization is in the midst a makeover that puts emphasis of its programs on micro and macro economics, a venture led by president Barbara A. McKinzie, finance director at Chicago's Neighborhood Housing Services.
"Economics is the central focus of everything we do," said McKinzie, whose tenure began in 2006. "My vision was to make economics as much of a core competency as service has been to Alpha Kappa Alpha for the 100 years."
Last year the group's biennial leadership conference was moved to New Orleans from from a planned cruise to infuse about $5 million into that economy. College chapters are charged with providing computer training to community members.
And the approximately 1,000 chapters around the globe are conducting investment and financial literacy workshops for youth, seniors and chapter members.
"There's no member whose life this hasn't touched. In terms of mental health, the black family and black males as the weakest link in our economic structure.
"When you started to have people view the challenges in their lives through an economic prism then they begin to get it."
After the 500-member Chicago chapter partnered with the city on a small business expo, conducted a financial literacy program for Chicago Public School students, hosted estate planning sessions with seniors and printed tips in monthly internal newsletter, member Willie L. Gray, 70, said she was motivated to finalize the estate planning what she's for years put off.
"After we started having these meetings on economics and we met with groups and did estate planning, my head started hurting, I was worries about estate planning so," said Gray, who chaired her chapter's economic initiative. "I feel so much better this year."
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Post by GorgeousNgreen on Jan 11, 2008 13:41:10 GMT -5
aww thats sweet.
That is more reasonable than that soror who was selling her doll for like $128!!!!
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Post by BklynPearl on Jan 11, 2008 15:28:30 GMT -5
Word!!
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Post by Champs Elysees on Jan 11, 2008 16:44:04 GMT -5
Buy 'em both ladies! We have to support black businesses. Besides, the other doll is probably gonna be of a higher quality. 
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Post by Boomerang08 on Jan 11, 2008 20:06:45 GMT -5
We do?  Buy 'em both ladies! We have to support black businesses. Besides, the other doll is probably gonna be of a higher quality. |
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Post by spr2008nj on Jan 11, 2008 20:46:46 GMT -5
aww how nice!
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Post by Champs Elysees on Jan 12, 2008 12:25:17 GMT -5
We do? Buy 'em both ladies! We have to support black businesses. Besides, the other doll is probably gonna be of a higher quality.  |
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Post by sigmamason on Jan 13, 2008 18:01:36 GMT -5
Just wonder if any mi AKAs will buy this...
just saying
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Post by ivy2beauty on Jan 14, 2008 10:37:55 GMT -5
Very cute
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Post by Sapphire on Jan 18, 2008 4:27:04 GMT -5
Wow! That's exciting!
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Post by Bunny Hop on Jan 18, 2008 7:34:05 GMT -5
Aww that's great!
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AlphaMale
OOA Interest
An Alpha is a rock in a weary land...
Posts: 132
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Post by AlphaMale on Jan 18, 2008 13:31:32 GMT -5
GET IT!
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Post by LejaOMG on Jan 18, 2008 15:32:55 GMT -5
can I see it please? I'd buy one
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Post by Nupey on Jan 18, 2008 16:47:17 GMT -5
<----Wonders if it comes with a REAL ACTION brown paper bag.
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Post by Nupey on Jan 18, 2008 16:52:21 GMT -5
<----Knows that he will be smitted for that comment
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Post by No Screen Name on Jan 20, 2008 15:22:08 GMT -5
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Post by Vudu_Prince on Jan 20, 2008 15:31:33 GMT -5
Wow they made her chocolate. I know the redbones gonna be like we have carried the image of this thing of ours since the beginning. WHAT ABOUT US!
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Post by No Screen Name on Jan 20, 2008 16:28:22 GMT -5
VP--I wonder if that is real or not? It looks cheap and the dress is ugly.
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Post by FULLOFME on Jan 20, 2008 16:50:10 GMT -5
That's not what I imagined as far as the outfit...I thought it would be much more elaborate, especially considering it is a collector's item...
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Post by goldenepiphany on Jan 20, 2008 17:49:27 GMT -5
I did not expect this
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Post by blandtaste on Jan 20, 2008 21:13:10 GMT -5
That's ugly.
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Post by Cambist on Jan 20, 2008 21:36:08 GMT -5
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Post by FULLOFME on Jan 20, 2008 21:44:15 GMT -5
Now that I can see...
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Post by Gee-Are on Jan 20, 2008 21:46:03 GMT -5
Just wonder if any mi AKAs will buy this... just saying They're waiting on the Ken version. |
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Post by No Screen Name on Jan 20, 2008 23:30:13 GMT -5
Cam: the doll you posted was the "Ivy Rose" doll. Somebody posted that before. It's made by a Black woman, not by Mattel. But still, that doll I found...maybe that was just an "example" or something, and not the real doll.  |
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Post by Real Talk on Jan 22, 2008 14:34:49 GMT -5
The doll will not be revealed until Boule in July...
I do know that she will have on an evening gown so I don't think the Barbie doll above is the actual one.
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Post by Ms. RedamnDickulous on Jan 23, 2008 10:19:39 GMT -5
Stop playing! That doll cannot be the one! I just pray that that type of tackiness doesn't reveal itself in July.
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Post by No Screen Name on Jan 23, 2008 13:13:06 GMT -5
If that is the one, that's going to be the Barbie that gets put in the bathtub, gets her hair cut, braided and greased, and eventually ends up lying naked somewhere in the bottom of the toy box with a missing head. |
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Post by Ms. RedamnDickulous on Jan 23, 2008 13:24:20 GMT -5
Aint that the truth! LOL
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Post by Oren Ishii on Jan 26, 2008 1:37:03 GMT -5
LMBO --- WAIT...I was SO guilty of this! My Barbies couldn't keep their earrings or NOTHING (way back in my pre-tomboy days)! *Agrees with Reflection* Girrrrrrrrrrl, to see THAT doll in July would be a SERIOUS...disappointment! SMH LOL If that is the one, that's going to be the Barbie that gets put in the bathtub, gets her hair cut, braided and greased, and eventually ends up lying naked somewhere in the bottom of the toy box with a missing head. |
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