Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past month, you’ve probably seen the revolution that has taken place in the image, advertising and marketing of everyone’s favorite (or least favorite) plastic babe: Barbie.
Gone are the days of the doll’s homogenized, ultra-skinny, blonde-haired and blue-eyed look. Barbie will now be available to customers in seven different skin tones, 18 eye colors, 18 hairstyles and, most shockingly, three new body types — tall, curvy and petite.
This unexpected and complete transformation of a product that has looked largely the same since its introduction in 1959 comes after four straight years of declining sales, as well as a huge advertising and social media campaign with the slogan #YouCanBeAnything at the forefront. Mattel is now striving for Barbie to symbolize the infinite career possibilities open to children that play with her, but that was only the beginning of the doll’s re-branding and mission to get Barbie back on top. Now, Barbie will also stand as a symbol of her customers’ bright futures and look like them too, mirroring the diversity of girls that buy and play with her. Barbie’s website, as well as her Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts are all boasting of this drastic change to the product with #TheDollEvolves on almost every post.
Among other things, the Mattel website states that “by introducing more variety into the line, Barbie is offering choices that are better reflective of the world they see today.” I applaud Mattel for this type of positive change to Barbie. Finally, a toy that is familiar to almost everyone in the world is representative of the different types of real women in that world. I know critics have said that it should’ve happened sooner. And I completely agree.
I wish Barbie had undergone this type of revolution back in 2000 when I had more Barbie dolls than any other toy. I could’ve had my doll look just like me, with dark hair, a chubbier physique and an olive complexion. Some might argue that the re-branding and excessive advertising of Barbie’s new look was only because sales were down. However, I don’t think it’s time to nit-pick and demonize Mattel for making strides in the right direction, regardless of the cause. Obviously the continuous sales drops and competition between Disney’s dolls and Barbie spurred this change in Mattel’s product, forcing Barbie’s designers and sales teams to get creative and finally produce a doll that displays different types of beauty.
But that’s capitalism. Mattel had to meet the demand for a “realistic” Barbie with a supply of that doll. The world wanted to see Barbie’s image change, and that’s exactly what we were given. The image of Barbie has been defining societal standards of beauty since its inception. I know that when I was younger and playing with Barbie dolls, I would think to myself how much I wanted to be as skinny and pretty as Barbie was, with perfectly straight and long hair — and that was the problem with her.
Any young girl playing with Barbie would feel inadequate and as if this mass-produced blonde bombshell was the only thing that counted as “beautiful” in this world. But that’s all changing. Now, young girls of all ages will pick up a Barbie that looks like them, realizing how their differences are what make them beautiful, not wishing to change how they look for anything.
That’s exactly what Barbie should be about: inspiring girls to be anything they want to be while celebrating exactly who they are.