Black Characters Star On Screen and On Shelf

As is the case every February, many product, promotional, and content announcements and launches involving licensed properties have been timed to Black History Month in 2022. The initiatives have cut across all property types and product categories. One particularly active space this year has been children’s entertainment and media, with new projects expanding representation for kids of color on screens and retail shelves:

• Karma’s World Entertainment and 9 Story Media Group partnered with The Fashion Institute of Technology for a 50-piece children’s streetwear collection inspired by the Netflix series Karma’s World, created by Chris “Ludacris” Bridges and starting its second season in March. Fashion is an important part of the coming-of-age series about an aspiring musician and rapper, which highlights themes such as self-expression and identity, leadership, creativity, and community. Items in the collection include overalls, puffers, and track pants. In addition, several of the FIT student designs are available for incorporation into Karma’s World licensed products in other categories; among the property’s 35 licensees are Mattel, Scholastic, and Universal Music.

• Disney licensed World of EPI, a multicultural children’s toy specialist, to create product lines tied to Proud Family: Louder and Prouder and Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, two series starring Black characters. The former, which launched on Disney+ in February, is a reimagining of a show that aired in the early 2000s, while the latter is a Marvel production based on one of its comic book series, set to premiere on Disney Channel in summer 2022. The toy line will include fashion dolls, collectible figurines, posable plush figures, and accessories, all with realistic multicultural skin tones, body types, hair textures and styles, and facial features.

• Mattel launched a new line of Rulers of the Sun figures, which will be incorporated into the Masters of the Universe Origins and other MOTU toy lines. The figures include Sun Man, who can harness the power of the sun, as well as Digitino, a Latino technology expert, and Space Sumo, an Asian ninja with the power of telekinesis. Olmec Toys debuted the original Sun Man and other Rulers of the Sun characters in 1985 as rare examples of Black super hero action figures on the market at the time. The line was not connected to the TV series Masters of the Universe but was designed to be played with MOTU figures, since there was no representation for Black children in the original show or its toys. A Black character debuted in MOTU shortly after the debut of Sun Man, in 1986. Mattel tested the current toy concept last year by releasing a successful Sun Man figure through Mattel Creations.

• Actress Lupita Nyong’o and her agent CAA signed UTA as the licensing and publishing representative for Super Sema, a YouTube Originals series starring and executive produced by Nyong’o. Just Play is the master toy licensee, debuting its first products in fall 2022; it will work with UTA on the development of retail programs and licensing agreements in apparel, accessories, and home goods. Kukua, in which Nyong’o is a shareholder, produces the show, which is billed as the first global animated series for kids starring a character from Africa. It features a young girl, Sema, and her twin brother MB, who protect their town from a villain by using STEAM superpowers.

• DC Comics and Warner Bros. released a range of original graphic novels and comic books for all ages, as well as collected editions and a series of releases with variant covers by artist Alexis Franklin. All feature DC’s Black superheroes. The companies also launched The Milestone Initiative, an incubator of up-and-coming creative talent of color, with participants ending the program by creating a new comic book for DC’s Milestone Universe in partnership with a member of the DC Comics team. A related range of t-shirts, hoodies, and skate and snowboards has been featured on the DC Shop e-commerce site throughout the month.

• Wondery launched a new 12-episode, multicultural podcast, Adventures of Cairo, about a 7-year-old boy living in a diverse, big city. The producers said their intent was to fill the void for audio entertainment featuring role models for listeners of color. The story’s themes include financial literacy, safety, emotional intelligence, tolerance, anti-bullying, and dealing with grief. The series is available through Apple Podcasts and other podcast platforms, as well as to subscribers on the Wondery app.

• eOne hired an executive dedicated to overseeing the global franchise and content strategy and management for Kiya, a preschool TV series announced last February. The series is set to debut on Disney Jr. in the U.S., France Télévisions in France, and Disney+ in other markets in 2023. The series is about a group of children who have a magical headband that turns them into superheroes.

While the number of entertainment and character-related announcements has been particularly pronounced this year, Black History Month initiatives have crossed into other areas of licensing, especially fashion. UPS partnered with InTheBlk to create an official 14-piece streetwear line called Be Unstoppable, consisting of t-shirts, caps, joggers, water bottles, backpacks, and wireless speakers created by three emerging designers the company presented as the official logistics partner of New York Fashion Week. Sports retailer Lids paired with The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Black Fives basketball teams, and the Harlem Globetrotters to create collections of apparel and accessories inspired by the three groups’ respective sports heritages and incorporating details from their vintage uniforms.

Meanwhile, Uggs paired with designer Tremaine Emory and his Denim Tears label for a collaboration on a Black Seminole edition of Uggs’ Classic Mini boot, inspired by a group of people, mostly residing in Florida and Oklahoma, who are descendants of native Americans of the Seminole tribe and Black people who were either escaped slaves or free Blacks during the time of slavery. Finally, Target introduced products from its three HBCU Design Challenge winners, who hail from historically Black colleges and universities, as one of several Black History Month product ranges. It also launched 40 new beauty brands into its permanent assortment, highlighting the fact that half of them are Black-owned or Black-founded companies, including some graduates of the Target Takeoff accelerator program.

These examples just begin to illustrate the many licensed and collaborative content and product initiatives that have occurred during Black History Month 2022. The number of projects grows each year, and that has especially been true since the George Floyd murder in 2020. More promising is the fact that corporations are taking steps to diversify their staffs and executive ranks, the roster of partners with which they work, their on-screen representation, and their product assortments year-round, beyond the annual, mostly in-and-out Black History Month initiatives that take place each February.