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Post by Admin on Dec 14, 2020 22:10:02 GMT
“Extra, extra, read all about it,” hypes Barbie in her new over-the-top pink furry coat and high-waisted jeans. Mattel is all about embracing the Barbie mantra “you can be anything,” and the new line of Barbie Extra dolls — out this week — reflects the consumer, no matter their race, size or style.  “Barbie is at her best when she connects to culture and Barbie Extra does just that from the name, down to every detail and accessory,” said Kim Culmone, global head of design for Barbie and fashion dolls at Mattel, in an emailed statement to Reuters. The classic Barbie was launched in 1959 as a doe-eyed, impossibly busty and narrow-waisted blue-eyed doll in a zebra-striped swimsuit. Parents and feminists have long criticized Barbie’s original shape as setting an unrealistic body image for girls, despite modifications over the years. Now, the more inclusive Barbie Extra collection has five different dolls that are being sold at Walmart, Amazon and Target. Some, such as Doll No. 2 and Doll No. 4 are curvier than the typical version, and others represent different races, such as Doll No. 1 and Doll No. 5. The whole collection was released on Nov. 16, and many styles are already sold out of their pre-order stock. Retailers such as Walmart currently have the blond Barbie (Doll No. 3) and the two-toned pink-and-purple haired Doll No. 2 in stock, and Amazon has the same selection. Target will also carry the dolls, but were sold out at publishing time. This comes as no surprise, as sales of the 62-year-old doll surged 29 percent during the COVID-19 lockdown, notching their best performance in at least two decades in the most recent quarter. The El Segundo, Calif.-based toy giant reported in October that fierce demand for Barbies through summer’s end helped fuel a hefty 10 percent increase in overall revenues to $1.6 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30. Toys and games are among the few bright spots in an otherwise bleak retail landscape during the pandemic as parents look for ways to entertain their house-bound kids.
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Post by Admin on Dec 15, 2020 4:26:22 GMT
Since 1959, Barbie has changed careers and body sizes. There are now curvy and petite models, alongside a line of Sheroes and Inspiring Women. Stacker takes a look back to see how Barbie has changed over the past 61 years.  Barbie turned 60 in 2019. Over the past six decades, the iconic doll has changed hairstyles, facial expressions, and held more than 200 jobs. Ruth Handler created the Barbie doll—which was very similar to the German adult doll Lilli—after she saw her daughter getting creative with paper dolls. Before Barbie, girls mostly acted as caregivers to their baby dolls. Handler, who co-founded Mattel with her husband, wanted to create a doll that could show girls they could be anything they could imagine—“a radical idea” in 1959, said Nathan Baynard, director of global brand marketing for Barbie. Though some say Barbie is a career-oriented feminist, the doll's body size has always been a source of controversy. If she was real, Barbie's original waist would have measured an impossibly small 18 inches. While her midsection expanded and her breasts shrank a couple of times over the decades, it wasn't until 2016 that Mattel introduced figures other than the original version. The Fashionista line now features seven body types, 11 skin tones, and 28 hairstyles. In the fall of 2019, dolls with prosthetic limbs and wheelchairs hit the market. Throughout Barbie's life as an architect, entrepreneur, presidential candidate, computer engineer, and Mars explorer, she has remained a successful toy for Mattel. It wasn't until 2014 that Elsa from “Frozen” became a more popular Christmas gift request by girls than Barbie. To see how Barbie has changed over the years, Stacker combed through the famous doll's history. We've scoured news reports, checked Barbie's historical timeline, and read through “The Story of the Barbie Doll” by Kitturah B. Westenhouser and “Barbie: Four Decades of Fashion, Fantasy, and Fun” by Marco Tosa. Click through to see how Barbie's looks, jobs, and body have changed in the last 61 years, including the ways she has made history and inspired several generations and counting. |
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Post by Admin on Aug 11, 2021 5:55:34 GMT
The Mattel toy company said it missed the mark in introducing an Asian Barbie doll in its new inclusive Olympics line. After having recently reignited promotion for Olympic Barbie dolls it released earlier this year, the company got online backlash that its lineup didn’t include a Barbie who appeared to be Asian.  “Our intention to represent the Asian community with the Skateboarder doll fell short and we fully receive and recognize the feedback,” a spokesperson said in a statement. The company said its skateboarding doll was meant to represent the Asian American community, but some Twitter users have said that they felt the Barbie doesn’t look Asian.  Each of the five dolls in the collection reflects the five new sports that had been added to the Olympics — softball, sport climbing, karate, skateboarding and surfing. California man accused of 'arson-setting spree' charged with starting blaze near Dixie Fire The company said in a news release last year that the Barbie collaboration with the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 organizers would emphasize “inclusivity and innovation.”  A number of other people highlighted the achievements of Asian female Olympians this year, including Hmong American gymnast Suni Lee, who was the first Asian American to win gold in the gymnastics individual all-around, and Filipina American fencer Lee Kiefer, who was the first Asian American woman to win a fencing gold in general. Mattel has created Barbies to honor Asian athletes before. A doll depicting snowboarder Chloe Kim, who won the gold medal in snowboarding at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, was released that year. And weeks before the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony, Mattel released a doll modeled after tennis player Naomi Osaka. “Moving forward, we will work to find more ways to champion all representation and celebrate the amazing achievements of all Olympic athletes, who are showing us that anything is possible,” a Mattel spokesperson said. |
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