For the past 60 years, when it came to Barbie, there was only one version. She is characterized by her luscious blonde locks, fair skin, and skinny figure, and to many girls, she is the epitome of perfection. However, this is all soon about to change. In 10 to 20 years, when a child is asked to describe Barbie, there will no longer be just one answer illustrating a slim, blonde bombshell. Instead, there will be many depictions of her that vary in shape, size, skin color and more. On Jan. 28, Mattel Inc. announced that Barbie will now come in various skin colors, eye colors, and hairstyles, as well as three different body types: petite, tall, and curvy.
The typical, blonde Barbie that has been around since 1956 has battled many criticisms as she does not accurately depict real women of the world. She did not represent everyone in the world as she was only one ethnicity and only one size — and that one size was not even an accurate model of a real woman. If Barbie were real, she would be 5 ft. 9 in., 110 lbs, and have disproportional bust, waist, and hip measurements, all adding up to someone who would not exist. Barbie is an image of “perfection” that girls may strive to achieve, but is impossible to as it is unrealistic and unattainable.
Health teacher Barbara Beaumont says, “[When striving to achieve this perfect body type,] girls are more worried about their weight, so more and more eating disorders appear, and it does also affect their self esteem and self image.”
As so many young girls play with Barbies (85 percent of American girls ages three to 10 currently own at least one Barbie), the doll and the image become a part of their later life and how they may view others and themselves. “When you’re young, you may not think too much about wanting a doll that is more representative of you or girls of the world,” says freshman Grace Marshall. “However, it does become a subconscious part of you in the future, this image of Barbie is what you think of as perfection. Although you don’t think of it as a child when playing with the dolls, it hassomething to do with what you view now and thinking that the ‘perfect’ look is with light hair, light skin, and a perfect body.”
Beaumont prefers to limit her daughters’ access to media through restricted exposure to television and social media. She says, “The media has really promoted and advertised the perfect image and this affects how the ideal female is viewed. This promotion of the ‘skinny, pretty image’ is in everything you look at— ads, magazines, and they are all misrepresentations and a distorted reality.”
Because of this, recently, many celebrities have spoken out and voiced their opinions on body image, empowering others to do so too. In Meghan Trainor’s song “All About That Bass,” she sings “I won’t be no stick figure, silicone Barbie doll” demonstrating her confidence in how she looks. Plus size model Ashley Graham was featured on the cover of this year’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition— a huge step for the company and towards promoting this image as it is the first time the magazine has featured a plus size model on the cover.
Amidst the new era of changing perception of body image, Mattel’s change to conform to this did not receive complete satisfaction. As Mattel’s global Barbie sales dropped from 2012 to 2016, there is controversy and backlash over the economic motivation for the company to make the change. Since the criticism from customers may correlate with the decline in sales, the motivation for Mattel may have been more to do with sales than the strive for women empowerment.
“I think it is a step in the right direction as they are much more realistically depicted,” says freshman Grace Marshall. “But, it is so economically motivated as [Mattel] is wanting to please mothers and other customers who are opposed to and are against the traditional Barbie.”
Although the motivation may be more economic, senior Ysabella Donlan still believes the impact is there. She says, “As a kid, I never had an attachment to Barbie dolls where I looked up to them … but to see people who strived for that is sad. The change is definitely beneficial for the new generation and for girls growing up now.”
