The longest-standing representation of femininity in pop culture has finally responded to years of warranted critique. At last, Mattel has announced the release of three new body types for their iconic Barbie doll: tall, curvy, and petite. Last year, the company began their quest to attain a more diverse, realistic depiction of women by marketing 23 new dolls of different skin colors and by producing dolls with flat feet rather than their typical pointy feet that were originally designed to fit high-heels. However, valid scrutiny continued with critics crying out against the doll for having frightening life-size proportions.
Of course, after seeing the above depiction of the doll’s proportions brought to life, no little girl in her right mind would truly consider striving to meet these standards. However, the original doll does not reveal the absurdity of Barbie's proportions. Furthermore, how can “the ultimate symbol of femininity” only come in one size, when real women and girls come in millions of shapes and sizes?
After being surpassed in sales by Legos and all things Elsa, Mattel decided that it was time to smarten up. Two years ago, Barbie's design team was employed to completely redesign the brand to bring her up to speed with modern ideas of beauty, rather than allowing her to continue as a sad symbol of unrealistic standards of beauty. The team was asked, “If you could start the brand over today and you didn’t have any rules and could do whatever you wanted, what would you do to make her as relevant as possible?”
Project Dawn, the secret project that redesigned Barbie’s body image, was also inspired by the endless criticism from social media and humanitarian projects such as National Eating Disorder Awareness Week. Mattel paid close attention to the scruples of parents, as Millennial parents, more so than past generations, have a firm preoccupation with what the toys that are entering their households signify. Jee Weiner, Social Messaging Strategist, stated: “Some of the things parents were saying about Barbie is that she might be a bad role model for girls.” Evelyn Mazzocco, General Manager of Barbie, chimed in with, “There was a sense that Barbie was not as authentic as she could be in terms of reflecting what was happening in the world.”
It is essential for children to be surrounded by realistic symbols of the world around them as they develop their worldview. Robert Best, Senior Director of Design for Barbie, nodded to the brand’s critics in saying, “It is valid. If this is a doll that people say is a role model and very young children are playing with that, there is a big responsibility to that. And I don’t think it’s a responsibility Mattel takes lightly at all.”
In order to take charge of that responsibility, the Barbie team has been designing new skin colors, new hair colors, new hair textures, new ethnicities, and, of course, the three new body types. “The world that kids are experiencing is really one that is multicultural and diverse,” according to Best.
The design plan has taken years to implement, as it is genuinely difficult to execute. Barbie’s clothes will no longer universally fit each doll, but no store is able to provide clothes that universally fit real women and girls. Of course, Barbie will still have her critics, however, Mazzocco noted that the brand is “in a position of progress, not perfection, right now.”
Although the kinks may not be completely worked out when the menagerie of Barbies hit the shelves on March 1st, the new Barbie line remains a step toward more realistic beauty standards in pop culture. “When you see them all together it looks like this tribe of young girls the way a kid might see that reflected in their own circle of friends, or their family, or at school,” Best said.
Mattel hopes that this step in the right direction will foster a truer sense of body image and ideas of beauty in children and in adults. Mazzocco added, “Our goal really was to celebrate all types of beauty, and a blonde hair blue eyed doll like Barbie is still beautiful, just like now the more curvier Barbie with dark hair and darker skin is just as beautiful.”
While Barbie's makeover may not be perfect, she is definitely making a positive statement. Pop culture critics can rest easy for a moment as “the ultimate symbol of American femininity” has gained a more realistic and still beautiful image.
