Sasha and Malia Dolls Retired

TY Inc., the toy firm which makes "Beanie Babies" had recently come out with two dolls called Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia. The company has recently received a lot of publicity due to these two dolls, because of the obvious co-relation between the dolls' names and that of President Obama's daughters. According to CNN, a TY executive denied that the dolls were based on Sasha and Malia Obama, contending that they found the names "beautiful" and that they "worked very well with the dolls we were making."

First Lady Michelle Obama, however, found these names "inappropriate", according to a statement released by Obama's press secretary, Katie McCormick Lelyveld. TY did a quick turnaround and retired the "original" Sasha and Malia dolls. However, the dolls are still going to be around, albeit under different names. The two names chosen for the dolls are "Sydney" and "Mariah".