After 50 years in the market, Mattel has finally surrendered to the cries of various customers, and released a line of diverse body shaped Barbies, in January 2016.<\/p>\n
The company Mattel, founded by Ruth and Elliot Handler in 1959, created Barbie, a doll all too familiar to girls of every age around the world. The original Barbie proportions were of above average standards; A miniscule waist with \u2018perfect sized\u2019 breasts, white ethnicity, blue-eyes and blonde-hair. These were the characteristics given to the doll that has carried the \u2018ideal\u2019 body image for generations.<\/p>\n
January 2016 marked an important day for kids in history: Mattel released a line of Barbies in all shapes, sizes and even skin colors. Curvy, petite, black, tall \u20137 skin tones, 22 eye colors and 24 hairstyles cant possibly disappoint. Mattel also released an advertisement featuring a young boy \u2013 stating that Barbie dolls are not exclusive to girls alone. The company\u2019s slogan also changed to \u201cImagination comes in all shapes and sizes. That\u2019s why the world of Barbie is evolving.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, this is not the first attempt Mattel has made to diversify their dolls. In 1980, Mattel released a black Barbie, but the dolls still had Caucasian features, they also attempted to make Barbie\u2019s waist bigger in 1997 but that was not a big success either.<\/p>\n
After Mattel made the announcement of releasing the new Barbie line, people began expressing their opinions. Since Barbie has been around for 57 years, she has had her fair share of controversies. Many complaints regarding the doll stemmed from the fact that she represented girls in a negative light. In 2014, a computer engineer Barbie book was released, insinuating in it that girls are unable to complete technical work without the help of males. Similarly, in 1992 Teen Talk Barbie spoke the phrase \u201cMath class is tough!\u201d Barbie is also commonly known to push weight loss with dolls such as \u2018Barbie Baby-sits\u2019, who came with a book on how to loose weight and the only tip was \u2018Don\u2019t eat!\u2019 Not to mention \u2018Slumber Party\u2019 Barbie, who came with a scale permanently set to 110 lbs.<\/p>\n
Because Mattel has made several attempts to diversify Barbie dolls over the years, what makes the new line so different? Today, media influences are bigger than ever and many outlets have taken the responsibility of portraying a positive representation for the young, easily influenced kids. Mattel has been an iconic brand in the lives of youngsters for many years. Taking this huge step to diversify their brand in order to reach their various audiences is a game changer itself. Their chances of promoting the positive representation of their brand will certainly increase after this superb change.<\/p>\n
\u201cBarbie is a huge role model for girls. What Mattel is doing is great because little girls look up to Barbie and want to be like her in terms of looks. It is very heartbreaking to see girls who aren\u2019t skinny feeling insecure because they don\u2019t look like her. Having a Barbie that is closer to their body shape would make girls more confident in their skin.\u201d Says Alyazia Al Marri, who played with Barbies all her childhood.<\/p>\n
Maryam Al Muzakki, a 17 year old who played with Barbies as a child and also has a little sister who now plays with Barbie, commented, \u201cI think it\u2019s a good idea and I support it because kids should have a variety of choices to pick from and people with curvier bodies should not feel neglected\u201d. She continued to say \u201cBut in my opinion, a doll is just an object to play with and not a role model for kids, so I don\u2019t think kids would really find a difference with the body shape\u201d.<\/p>\n
Nafja Al Jamal, an 18 year old girl also shared her view on Mattel\u2019s new Barbie line \u201cIt\u2019s a really good idea for kids to have different types of bodies represented in Barbie dolls because usually they\u2019re all the same \u2013 tall, thin and tiny waists \u2013 and kids should know that people rarely look like that. It\u2019s a good idea to put this concept in young minds before they mature\u201d she also goes on to say \u201cThe next thing Barbie should change is that they need to include Barbie\u2019s that are doctors, engineers and other important careers. Girls need to see that they can do these jobs too when they grow up and have the idea that they can do more than just have a big pink house and a nice car\u201d.<\/p>\n
For a lot of kids, Barbie is like a sister figure, someone that they look up to and strive to be like. Mattel sees this and has finally taken on the responsibility of creating a doll for everyone to relate to and look up to as a positive representation and role model when it comes to physical image.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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