Free Market Economics or Racism? Pottery Barn “Dark-Skin” Doll Cheaper Than White

My wife was checking out Christmas stockings today at Pottery Barn to buy them at a discount after the season and couldn’t help but notice the exact same stocking with a “dark-skinned doll” and a “light-skinned doll” at dramatically different prices. Evidently, you can buy $16.99 for the light skin doll but get a whopping discount down to $9.99 for the dark skin doll quilting. I find this to be an odd stance to take both from a marketing standpoint and from a public relations standpoint.

Here’s a screenshot from this morning’s shopping session:

Free Market Economics or Racism?

On one hand, a pure free market capitalist would say that all prices in the market should be dictated by supply and demand. Hypothetically, if there’s an abundance of dark skinned doll stockings and very little demand, perhaps it is financially justifiable to charge less compared to the “in-demand” white doll stockings. I dunno, are light-skinned Americans more likely to buy Christmas stockings than their dark-skinned brethren? I have no idea. However, from a broader corporate perspective, this seems pretty offensive. I thought we’ve moved past skin color by now, it’s 2012. We’re still charging different rates for different products that are exactly the same other than skin color? What’s really in it for Pottery Barn? Is the excess inventory volume for dark-skinned doll stockings that insane that clearing a few extra bucks in inventory is worth offending their customers? (Perhaps their forecast accuracy needs a little work then if this is a known phenomena; it’s not exactly the first Christmas season in history). Personally, I think it would be tough to justify the impression conveyed that people with differing looks should pay different prices for their products which surely have the exact same cost to produce, market and ship.

Here’s the link to the product page. We’ll monitor over the next few days to see if they change their pricing to be more “equal”, ya know, because it’s 2012.