Matell announced on January 28th that Barbie is no longer going to be the paragon of American women. But instead she is going to come in three body shapes: tall, petite, and curvy. Also, Barbie is going to come in multiple different skin tones. Although, this is not completely true to life, because women do not just come in three different body shapes. Some women are tall and curvy etc., so why did Matell not make Barbie perhaps customizable?
Within Mattel’s “2016 Fashionistas collection” due to hit stores this spring each Barbie will have the ability to be diversified. This collection will feature 24 hair style options, 22 eye color options, 14 different “face sculpts,” and seven different skin tones. So, yes this new collection has Barbies’ that are in a way customizable. But with the technology that 2016 offers, how come Mattel does not have an option where a Barbie can resemble a doll version of a young girl who desires one? American Girl Doll already offers a service similar to the one being described, but it is more customizable. So how come Barbie–one of the world’s most popular dolls in the world has not yet come up with services similar to American Girl Doll?
A video featured on Buzzfeed asks children to discuss what they think about the new Barbie and here is what they said:
“I don’t know much about Barbie except she’s, like, blonde.”
“Oh, so they’re like, not as tall. Yay, because I’m really short.”
“I really, really like the curvy one, because some people don’t look that much like Barbie.”
“It’s an African-American Barbie doll, like me, and I love her hair. Her hair resembles my hair.”
All of these statements that children made relate back to the original Barbie and it’s unrealistic body type that many women do not relate to. So I’m curious to see how many parents and children are interested in buying a Barbie from this new collection.
