Is the New Curvy Barbie Sending the Right Body Image Message?

Barbie gets the much-needed reality check after dwindling sales and widespread criticism

The iconic doll will now be available in petite, curvy and tall shapes and will have 7 skin tones, 22 eye colours, 24 hairstyles (Photo courtesy: Mattel)

She can’t keep a career for more than a month but for more than 57 years the blue-eyed blonde has been defying the laws of physics to strut around in high heels, carrying her impossibly narrow waistline and a thigh gap which would make a crane jealous. But times have changed and Mattel, the toy company behind the iconic figurine has realised that women come in different sizes and so will Barbie.

The doll will now come in tall, curvy and petite shapes. And that’s not all. In a bid to reflect diversity, fans can pick up the doll in 24 hairstyles, 22 eye colours and 7 skin tones. Sure she’ll be as stylish as ever but also more real like the girls who play with her.

It’s a massive risk for Mattel. Barbie is more than just a doll. The brand does $1 billion in sales across more than 150 countries annually (Photo courtesy: Mattel)

The New Barbie is Body Positive

(Photo courtesy: Mattel) 

As a heritage brand, Barbie is perhaps the most glorified 11.5 inches of plastic ever assembled. It gave Mattel the global recognition it enjoys today. But in some years, the heritage image which comes to mind when you think ‘Barbie’ is all set to change.

A 2006 study of 5 to 8-year-old girls published in Developmental Psychology showed that young girls exposed to Barbie reported lower body esteem and a greater desire for a thinner body shape than girls who played with other dolls or no dolls at all. With celebrities across the globe in support of slamming fat shaming, the message to Mattel was clear: Unrealistic beauty standards are changing, it’s about time Barbie did too.

<p>We believe we have a responsibility to girls and parents to reflect a broader view of beauty.</p>

<b> Evelyn Mazzocco, Senior Vice President and Global General Manager Barbie</b>

So from a glorified sex toy to finally becoming more diverse, representing broader cultural realities, in a somewhat limited way, the new range of ‘Fashionista’ dolls will stand for progress not perfection.

New Dawn?

In 2015, after strutting around in heels for over five decades, Mattel also changed the doll’s ankles to allow her to wear flats. Barbie was designed with non-frozen ankles that can be adjusted so that her feet can slip into flats or heels.

After kicking heels for comfort, it’s epic that Barbie will don diverse cultures. One small step for the doll, one huge leap for womankind? (Photo courtesy: Mattel)

Just to be clear, Mattel did not make these changes because it wanted to be some moral leader. Its sales were drastically dwindling by over 16% in 2014 alone and the public opinion it enjoyed was failing.

As a little girl, I would’ve loved to have a doll who was somewhat like what I thought a future ‘me’ would look like.

As a parent, I always thought Barbie was a bad role model for promoting unrealistic body types. As a curvy girl, I am not convinced that the only kind of plus size is the hourglass, Kim Kardashian, big boobs, large hips, flat abs kinda curvy!

Don’t take offence, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that shape, just that it’s only one shape which doesn’t show the broad spectrum of ‘real’ curvy at all. But then, should the burden of how a child feels about her body lie solely on a doll or should positive parenting be held responsible?

What do you think of these changes? Leave a comment in the section below.