Finally.
Tall, skinny and blonde dolls are not a reflection of the real world. And they are definitely not a reflection of who I am. I want my brown girls to feel like who they are is everything and you can’t do that if you have one track, cookie-cutter dolls that aren’t inclusive.
Barbie has finally decided to get on board and create a variety of that dolls that are a reflection of all of us: curvy, short, petite and just all around fabulous.
Mattel announced the new line Thursday on its website and in a Time magazine article featuring the cover headline, “Now can we stop talking about my body?”
“We have to let girls know it doesn’t matter what shape you come in, that anything is possible,” Tania Missad, director of consumer insights for the doll line, said in a video on the Barbie brand website.
According to Mattel, Barbie will now come in four body types and seven skin tones, with 22 eye colors and 24 hairstyles. In all, 33 dolls will roll out in stages, spokeswoman Michelle Chidoni said.
The move comes a year after Mattel introduced Barbies with moveable ankles that would allow the dolls to wear flat shoes for the first time.
In June, Mattel broadened the number of skin tones, eye colors and hair styles available for the dolls, which first appeared on store shelves in 1959.
The latest changes, however, “are by far the most dramatic we’ve ever made,” Chidoni said.
They come after years of criticism leveled at Mattel over the doll’s unrealistic proportions and concerns that Barbie reinforced a single, virtually impossible standard of beauty for girls to try to meet.
For now, only some of the dolls are available and only through Mattel’s online store. They will be in stores March 1, Chidoni said. The full line will roll out in stages throughout the year.
To be honest, I’ve never bought my daughters a Barbie doll because they weren’t very realistic. I’m more than proud now to purchase any of the new ones. Thanks Mattel.
Finally.
What do you think of the new dools?
(CNN contributed to this report)
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