Dora the Explorer leads doll revolution

[Sequoia]

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Toy store aisles are getting a multicultural makeover. Shelves stocked with a selection of multicultural dolls are seen at a Super Kmart in Homewood, Illinois.

Bolstered by the success of Nickelodeon's popular bilingual children's character, Dora the Explorer, and the spending power of the nation's growing minority population, toy retailers across the country are filling their shelves with dolls whose skin colors and facial features reflect the girls and boys who play with them.

Although black and Hispanic dolls have been around for decades, the newer incarnations try harder at authenticity, rather than simply tinting the hair and skin from "white" doll molds.

Now, discount retailer Kmart hopes to cash in on a growing appetite for ethnic toys among minority consumers, and their rising spending power. It's launching its own initiative this month, putting dozens of multicultural dolls on shelves in each of its 1,400 stores.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/personal/08/13/dolls.ap/index.html