Barbie Becomes Body Inclusive...KINDA?

On January 28, 2016, Mattel released a brand new collection of body conscious Barbie dolls. The dolls came in a wide variety of shapes and sizes including tall, petite, and plus-sized and some even had flat or wide feet. For decades Mattel has been slammed by the public and feminist who feel that Barbie sets an unrealistic standard of beauty for women at a young age. The first couple decades of Barbie was a blonde hair, blue-eyed, skinny doll, who wore heels regularly. Today Barbie can be found in a wide variety of races, hair textures and some even wear sneakers. As a brand who loves Barbie themed clothing, we always appreciated the style, grace and light shined on the endless possibilities of career choices for women. On the other hand, this company is ran by Millennials and we fight for inclusion and representation for EVERYONE!

As a society we have to wonder why did it take Barbie more than 20 years to create an African American doll and almost 60 years to create a body positive Barbie. According to the New York Times, Mattel has took a dive in sales and the inclusion of these new body types were created in an attempt to save the company. In 2014, Mattel received some competition with the creation of the Lammily doll. Lammily dolls were created for the sole purpose of making dolls that look like normal people with imperfections. Lammily dolls come with scars and stretch marks, plus-sized, short and wide variety of other features. Whether the intentions of the company were pure or not, we are happy that our future children and Plastic Babes will have the option of playing with realistic Barbies that look similar to their own features. Enjoy the video below of a couple of 8th grade students reaction to the Lammily doll. The second video is of a couple kids reaction to the new body conscious Barbie. Comment down below if you would buy the new body positive Barbie or the Lammily doll?

(Left). A comparison of the traditional Barbie and the realistic Lammily doll. (Right).

One of the first Barbie dolls that didn’t feature a thigh gap was Barbie’s recreation of plus-size super model, Ashley Graham.

Lammilly doll reaction: http://time.com/3593985/realistic-barbie-alternative-lamm/

Barbie doll kids reaction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1lswHN6zrg