Posted on 01/30/2016 7:12:45 PM PST by drewh
Mattel has announced updates to its iconic Barbie doll, which include the additions of curvy, petite and tall body types, as part of an attempt to ensure the toys better represent modern women like Kim Kardashian and Lena Dunham, according to TIME magazine.
Speaking exclusively to TIME this week for a cover story, Evelyn Mazzocco, who is the head of the Barbie brand, said that Barbie’s declining popularity forced the company to try a different approach. For the first time, the doll will be available in alternate body types, which will include a variety of skin tones and hairstyles.
Mazzocco said after a previous attempt at making the at times controversial doll more independent and feminist, her company decided to shift its focus to creating dolls that represent greater diversity. Mattel is also marketing the toys to mothers who are more reflective of that diversity.
Mattel has been criticized for decades over Barbie’s impractical body proportions.
Dockterman, who was given exclusive access to Mattel’s El Segundo, California headquarters for the feature story notes Lena Dunham, who is the star and creator of HBO’s Girls, might be partially behind Barbie’s transformation. She writes:
American beauty ideals have evolved: the curvaceous bodies of Kim Kardashian West, Beyoncé and Christina Hendricks have become iconic, while millennial feminist leaders like Lena Dunham are deliberately baring their un-Barbie-like figures onscreen, fueling a movement that promotes body acceptance.
Dunham’s supposed influence on the world of toys, as asserted by TIME, is profound. In addition to her promotion of “body acceptance,†the HBO star wrote in her 2014 memoir that she was raped when she was 19 by a man she insisted was a “resident conservative†while she attended College in Ohio.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Shouldn’t it resemble Caitlyn Jenner?
Does she have tattoos?
I hate to admit I find Kim stunning.
Lena isn’t trash. That’s an insult to good trash.
a word hasn’t been invented yet to describe her.
and if they want to build a doll based on the new modern young woman, from what my nephew’s friends tell me, design a doll that goes home with you if you buy her 2 drinks and an appetizer.
And to be fair, design a Ken doll that was never taught to respect women by his father.
Fine idea.
A woman doesn’t have to look like “Barbie” to be gorgeous...
In fact too few men understand that a chubby or small-breasted girl can by virtue of natural countenance and brains blow a “Barbie” away in the attractiveness department.
Am I suddenly gay or is that a gorgeous Freightliner?
Mr. Potato Head did that decades ago.
Lena Dunham a woman? Prove it!
Fine idea.
A woman doesn’t have to look like “Barbie” to be gorgeous...
In fact too few men understand that a chubby or small-breasted girl can by virtue of natural countenance and brains blow a “Barbie” away in the attractiveness department.
Lena Dunhams mom is Willma Buttfit and her father was Bud Tugley.
Lena Dunham is coming up just in time - Rosie O’Donnell is retiring and needs a replacement. :)
You don't want to go there... no man wants to go there.
Get the new “Skank Barbie”
(STDs sold separately)
Is the Lena doll molesting her little sister?
The Ken doll has been renamed the Male Identifying Barbie.
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