In the night garden light skinned doll

[spokette]

So according to the makers of In the night garden, the characters are toys, not representative of real people here?. I guess that is why most of the characters have light skin then.

One of the reasons I actually liked "In the night garden" is that there is a character who has dark skin and is therefore a positive reinforcement to my mixed race 4yo DTS because, there are very few dark skinned characters on TV and hence why their TV viewing is strictly rationed. Non-blacks will probably not understand why this is important but for those interested, I grew up in 70s Britain and the constant, relentless barrage by the media that black people were either criminals or only good at sports was not only dispiriting and erroneous but also insulting and designed to remind us of our place in society.

This cynical and deliberate ploy to market a lighter skin doll as oppose to the darker skin one was done to appeal to the non-black buying public as usual and demonstrates that the BBC, like many of these institutions are still paying mainly lip service to providing inclusive TV viewing.

Guess who will not be tuning in to this programme again?

Rinder - you were right the first time! I started out as MrsThierryHenry and then have gradually chopped and changed my name over the months, finally becoming this beautiful butterfly before you now

Of course racism exists. What silliness to suggest that it doesn't. Going back a few pages but why wouldn't a mum want her kids to be able/ encouraged to watch shows with kids just like them in it?

When I was a kid I loved watching anything with kids like me in it - it gave me that identification thing and made me feel like I wasn't alone.

Easy to say colour doesn't matter when your own colour is that of the majority. I wonder how you/ your kids would feel if you suddenly became the minority. You'd notice colour soon enough then I'll bet.

I'm white btw if it matters.

spokette are you on Facebook by any chance?

Feckit a gollywog and a in the night garden toy are hardly the same thing I think your post was rather rude, and maybe you should look up what a gollywog doll represents

MrsH see, I knew I had Thierry on my mind for a good reason!

Ping Ping, not on Facebook. I only have time to post on MN occasionally!

Purhaps if the makers had realised there would be people silly enough to resemble the charactors to real life people, they would probably have made Upsy Daisy a non human colour like purple or something? That would have been the best way imo.

It isn't silly. Characters do not have to be exact representations of human beings for people to recognise them as resembling humans. Marge Simpson is yellow with blue hair but I recognise her as a representation of a white American woman. Upsy Daisy is representative of a little girl, but you're right IcingOnTheCake, if they did not want people to think she was representative of a little girl with brown skin then they shouldn't have made her look like a little black girl.

Well said, Raspberry. Wish I'd thought of it myself.

Rinder -

I can remember reading that far less Dipsy's (the black teletubby) were sold than the other teletubbies

I haven't read all the thread but swear little children don't give two hoots about this stuff. Cbeebies is pretty much multicultural these days.

One could almost say that they cover Eid and Diwali more than they do, say Easter. I think this is wonderful and hope that my dd, in a school in Brussels near Nato, will be be much more aware of other cultures than I was in my southern C0fE primary.

In fact this has caused it's own dilemmas as the Indian and African children, along with the Czech, Spanish, Italian children actually DO originate from those countries. So it is hard to explain to dd that not all black people are from Africa for example, as the black kids she knows actually are from Africa/Morocco.

Havn't read all the thread but must say I have noticed that my DD's upsy daisy doll is much lighter skinned than the actual character, not that my DD who is mixed race by the way, gives 2 hoots.

Just seen an upsy daisy advert for a dressing up doll from playskool and the new doll is definetly the right colour now...interesting.

I have the Upsy Daisy plush doll that is described in the article (well DS does) and I have to say I hadnt really noticed, as I hadnt really imagined her as 'black' person, but as a doll, a toy.

haven't read all the posts but mine was one of the complaints, har-de-har. i thougth it was rubbish taht the doll didn't look like upsy because her skin was the wrong colour, and i expressed my suspicions that this was for a cynical reason.

the beeb said that they weren't the manufacturers and not responsible, i said that wasn't really good enough.

they said she was just a toy etc, i said, if iggle piggle was pink you'd have corrected it.

they said that upsy wasn't black in any case and i quoted some promotional material i'd been given by the beeb when the show launched describing her as mixed race... KER-lamped.

they apologised and sent me some dvds...

Way to go Aitch

well done aitch