Barbie introduces new line of dolls: raising awareness of inclusivity

For a number of years now, Barbie has always been associated as someone who has a figure to die for, one which always seemed too impossible to achieve.

The other thing, which bothered many, especially mothers of young daughters, was their obsession with being skinny and beautiful just like Barbie. Barbie dolls, in fact, became a nightmare for mothers with many young girls trying to imitate her dressing style and skinny body.

But the tables have turned, finally, even though it took 57 years for Mattel to do it. Barbie has finally chosen to change with the times and would now be available in three shapes—curvy, petite and tall.

The three new Barbies have been launched as part of the Barbie fashionistas line, which came out in June and had Barbies with 8 varied skin tones, 14 different facial features, 18 eye shades and 22 different hair styles.

Being a mother I can definitely say that this would a breath of relief for young mothers who are sick of seeing their daughters admire a doll that looked like anything but a role model for young girls, with the strikingly narrow waste, wavy blonde hair and legs like sticks, far from how any Asian child looks like.

In an exclusive Time magazine interview interview, Mattel’s Evelyn Mazzocco, head of the Barbie brand, speaks about Project Dawn that was behind the change of body image of the Barbie. She even confesses to having received death threats, besides just hate mail over the barbie body. This is when she decided to take up the haters head-on and thought of revamping the Barbie doll.

Let’s hope that other companies would also take a cue from Mattel and make dolls that look real and more importantly ones that have a positive influence on young girls.

 (Image source: Mattel)