Look at the merchandise. If grouped together, the ones included are Cinderella, Aurora, Snow White, Belle and Ariel. Rapunzel is starting to pop up thin this group as well. These six princesses are everywhere. Mulan and Pocahontas are almost never seen on merchandise. In fact, I've never seen them on anything, except when I was a kid and these films were first released. Tiana is more popular than Mulan and Pocahontas, but still not as popular as the main six. Same goes for Jasmine. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks this.
Could it be that it's because that's what people bought most?
Cinderella is the classic "Disney" princess, even though Snow White was first. Aurora, though her story is far less popular modernly (I doubt many people could name Maleficent), is also very well known due to years of marketing. Both have iconic Castles at the parks (whether guests know it or not, subliminally they do).
Belle and Arial were the first two major animation princess hits to come out of the Disney Animation Studios in quite literally decades.
And with regards to Snow White (arguably the least marketable...Disney even removed her ride at MK), she was the first.
I fail to see the implied "racism" in that. The fact the Merida and Rapunzel are equally not as popular is a testament to market demand and the overwhelming social impact the movies they were in was far less, considering when they came out and the over-saturation of the american consumer base with new IP.
I'm American Indian, and I found Pocahontas (if you want to get racial) an offensive movie. Not because of the portrayal of the Indians in it, racial portrayals don't offend me...I either shrug them off or ignore them, as any adult should. What offended me was how bad a character she was. She was made out to be a super-spiritual sexy "goddess" with a limited personality in a movie with a shallow overly political plot that assumes that the audience is stupid.
My daughter is half black, and she adores Tiana. As do I. Well, not cause she's black. It's because it was the first Disney "Princess" based story in a long time where the story took precedence and the lead actress (in this case, an animation with a voice) was fully vested in a deep and meaningful story of struggle and triumph. Every visit, my kid insists we must meet Tiana. She even skipped missing Mickey this past trip, of her own choice, because of the line, but insisted we meet Tiana.
However, does that mean she wants to buy Tiana merch? Nope. She doesn't like green. She prefers pink, yellow, and blue. Guess which characters, when it comes to merchandise, are represented by those colors?
To state that "it's about racism" is just completely inane.
I'll end this with...the only people who see race...are racists.
Anyway, my little cousin would LOVE to be Tiana, but I don't think she has even watched Mulan and I don't think she gets Pocahantas.