Dolls renamed after first lady objects

THE US toy company that makes the popular Beanie Babies is to drop the names Marvellous Malia and Sweet Sasha from its Ty Girlz collection following criticism from first lady Michelle Obama.

The dolls have been renamed Marvellous Mariah and Sweet Sydney, said chief executive Ty Warner of Oak Brook, Illinois-based Ty Inc.

The original names were inspired by what Mr Warner called “this historic time in our nation’s history”, but he said the dolls were not intended to look like President Barack Obama’s daughters.

The switch was made out of respect to the first family after Obama said using her daughters’ names was inappropriate, said Warner.

Profits from sales of the original dolls will be donated to charity.

“We appreciate the company’s response to this matter,” the first lady’s press secretary Katie McCormick Lelyveld said last night.

To collectors, the dolls with their original names will become more valuable, said Jim Silver, editor-in-chief of timetoplaymag.com in New York.

“I’m sure many of them are being put away in a closet and are never going to be opened,” he said.

Chicago lawyer Marc Cooperman, said: “I would suspect that the company knew when it introduced the two dolls, they would cause some commotion and the company would get some press out of it.”