The "Not Obama Dolls": A Hard Lesson In Marketing

It never ceases to amaze me how major companies get themselves into trouble by making mistakes that, one would think, are easily avoidable. It all goes back to basic principle that there is a right way and a wrong way to do things. The case du jour is the fatal faux pas that toy company Ty made in creating dolls in the (not-so) likeness of the Obama girls. learly done as a ploy to capitalize on the popularity of the newly-crowned First Daughters, the company recently released the "Marvelous Malia" and "Sweet Sasha" dolls as part of their Ty Girlz collection of plush dolls - and get this - without even bothering to request permission from the Obama family. Um, hello? Anyone home at Ty? Did you think the Obamas would not notice?

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