The New Barbie Dolls Are Now Tall, Curvy, Petite, and More Ethnically Diverse

[Anonymous]

A few months ago I wrote a take about how wonderful it was to see a company taking on the voice of the people who in this case have been asking, begging, and demanding more ethnically diverse dolls that reflect their own children, and Barbie responded in kind with it's new line that featured dolls with 23 different skin tones, hair color, eye color, and facial feature combinations from Asian dolls, to dolls with freckles, bi-racial dolls, Hispanic looking dolls, etc. Some made a case that the company did not have to cater to the people and should have continued on with their mainly blonde haired blue eyed products that hadn't changed much since 1959. The problem with that is, as I pointed out, when you are in business, and you want to stay on top, your product needs to appeal to the people actually buying it. Sales for Barbie were dropping and more and more competition entered into the market and people felt that Barbie no longer was a reflection of the times and was seemingly refusing to change, so they spend their money elsewhere. Not good for buisness. So smart business people, follow the money, follow their customers wants and desires and then hopefully make more profit from it.

So that brings us to Barbie's latest efforts to appeal to the masses with their new line of dolls which will continue to be ethnically diverse, but will now also feature dolls that are petite or tall in stature, the standard dolls, and a curvy model or plus sized model. Can't you see the dollar signs adding up because your petite dolls can't wear the curvy clothes, and your tall doll can't wear the petite clothes, so if your kid wants a troop of the new dolls, be prepared to spend some money which some parents are happy to do if it means their kid will have a doll that looks like they do or family and friends do, etc.

I applaud the dolls for their diversity, their embracing of different heights, especially as a tall girl myself, but as far as the curvy doll, I have very very mixed emotions about that doll. The US in particular has a serious obesity problem that has now spread like wildfire to our children. The doll never seems to actually ever be an average healthy size but rather either now too thin or plus sized. With more and more kids sitting in front of social media, phones, tvs, and video games instead of outside playing on playgrounds, high blood pressure, diabetes, morbid obesity are all things kids as young as elementary school age are now having to deal with. To me, that goes far beyond simple vanity or celebrating diversity which we should all be able to embrace, or someone's height. Many of the ads running on the new dolls are saying this is what America or the world looks like now, and as far as weight, that's not a good thing. People get so emotionally wrapped up in this idea that big is beautiful, but internally not being able to best a flight of stairs without being winded, not being able to sit in an airplane seat, to go for a walk without feeling like you're dying, having various serious life threatening health issues...these are legitimate problems...and yes we can argue that it's just a doll, and these are just kids, but clearly if we begin to talk about how Barbie is now some reflection of or on life, it has gone beyond just some doll in a box.

What do you think about the new changes?

[Anonymous]

I thought Barbie was already tall, give her unrealistically long legs and looks of a model.

It's a good thing to add different looks - if a child is a short black girl of average weight and all the dolls are tall, blond, blue-eyed skinny girls, she'll learn to feel bad about her body early on.

I don't think curvy doll is anything to worry about. They are not going to make her look obese, probably just average weight. I don't see any fat dolls in the pics, one has wide hips (which is feminine and beautiful IMO) but she's not fat.

[Katy16]

I don't think it's really "barbie" anymore, there's nothing particularly wrong with it, but I think it's stupid

For me I never looked at a barbie and thought "hmm I need to look like this" she was a doll to me, so she wasn't supposed to be realistic, just like bratz, their heads and feet were massive, I'm sure no one wanted to look that way, it's a doll

[myTake Owner]

Tell that to the people out there who have gotten plastic surgery to look like Barbie, LOL

[ted22]

This is true, I ask my sisters about this and they said the same thing "its just a doll"

[Katy16]

To be honest I think those people are a little crazy lol

[Anonymous]

I really like the new barbies and although I somewhat agree with your statement I think it's time to give Barbie some slack. Going from demanding better representation to immediately telling Barbie to only present healthy dolls just sounds like picking on Barbie out of spite. Even if that's not what's actually going on. Give the brand some time to breathe. The blue haired one is what they're calling curvy. They're not selling anything close to this images.medicaldaily.com/.../...ize-barbie-doll.com (This is not a Mattel product by the way.) So I don't think we're anywhere near the point of needing to discuss the obesity epidemic. The body Barbie has shown is a natural healthy shape and many woman no matter how much they try won't get much thinner than the body shape that barbie's representing simply due to bone and muscle structure. It's just not possible for every woman to be pencil thin. Some woman in thier healthiest states are going to be curvier than others. So I appluad Barbie.

[myTake Owner]

well said.

[Anonymous]

See, you don't get this with boys. They have an action figure say He-man and they don't question their looks or become insecure.
They just play!
www.doyouremember.co.uk/uploads/raw-1328473049.jpg
And if you want to look like that then train your ass off like goku!
seyiagboola.files.wordpress.com/.../...h-ups-1.gif

[Shay1994]

Press the muffin button now XD.

[Ghosted]

well duh. male insecurities are different. it may be more about being man enough or not whereas girls its looks

[Araya]

I think it's great that it's been done. I will never forget the experiment that was done on little black girls for them to choose which Barbie doll that they would prefer... and the majority of them picked white because they thought white was better.

This way, everyone can feel accepted and show that beauty comes in all shades and sizes.

I didn't know about the "curvy" doll though. Lol. Thanks. :)

[BiscuitesSwag]

I was never interested in playing with dolls in my childhood, I just felt peer pressured to play with them. But I like that they are trying now to make diverse looking dolls. This way it looks like there are more types of people, not just one like some indentical robots. ^·^

[Ghosted]

thats cool. i wonder how itll be received by the kids! i remember as s a kid i never felt bad about myself cuz of dolls or disney cartoons, but i did havee a special affinity toward my princess jasmine doll. i think its becuz she looked more like me. kids do notice these things.

[Cjanes]

Watched some videos it was nice, some of the girls really like the black doll with the curls saying "her hair looks like mine" it was very cute.
They also really liked the fact they had flat feet and could stand and be posed lol

[NiquaCrazi92]

It's great that kids can look at barbie and see themselves now but let's be real. They really get their insecurities from watching tv. Whatever it being represented as beautiful at the time that's what they will believe is beautiful until they get older. It's all about who is being shoved in your face while you grow. I certainly didn't look at barbie and go " This is considered beautiful but I don't look like that so I'm not beautiful". This is mainly because I didn't go to school or watch tv hearing everyone say " barbie is so gorgeous", " barbie has the has the perfect body". I only heard people speak that way about celebrities and models not barbie, but everyone has their own truth. This is mine.

[hifromkai]

Having mixed feelings about the curvy doll is fair enough but to me it just looks like a curvy woman... shorter and a little more filled out than the tall one but essentially a healthy woman. The whole idea was to keep away from unhealthy and unrealistic images for which I applaud them but keep in mind curvy and obese are on two different scale's... one being for weighing trucks... lol seriously though a curvy woman is not necessarily a large woman it's more to do with body shape than size com weight

[myTake Owner]

Good comment. I think more and more people feel that way about it. I think its just really cool that the dolls look more and more like the rainbow of people who exist because growing up that was always a thing. My parents would not buy a doll that didn't look like me because they didn't want me to feel like I wasn't beautiful the way I looked, but that limited me a lot, and now it's like, where were you Barbie, a million years ago, when I could have really enjoyed this. Now I have to go find some nieces or something and try and convince them that I'm playing with them, not just their dolls, LOL!

[KawaiiPie67]

I love this and feel jealous of the younger girls who can grow up with these instead. This I'd how they should have been all along. I might srsly buy some. Even just to support the company.

[SilenRose]

I feel this new line won't sell as good as the traditional barbies. I say this because the people who were complaining were not the target market. They're just people who want everything to be PC. There have been people trying to sell "realistic" barbie dolls and they fail. Why? Because that's not what the kids want.

[myTake Owner]

I'm not sure about the new sizing, but as far as diversity, actually market research has indicated that non-whites are the new mainstream when it comes to spending money on dolls. Similar line dolls which offer customization where owners, parents, kids can design their own dolls hair, eye color, skin color, race, have far out priced standard dolls because parents in particular do want dolls that reflect their own kids. It is not PC for say an Asian parent, to want a doll that looks like their kid any more than it is for a white parent to want a white doll that also looks like their kid. Across the board in many doll lines for decades now, the white doll has been the only standard and diverse dolls have been sometimes impossible to find or not regularly shelved.

[myTake Owner]

Barbie, even with her new sizing is not exactly "realistic" anyway, but Barbie has seen its profits tanking in recent years compared to newer line dolls on the market so this push is not so much because they want to do these things as a company out of the goodness of their heart, but because new consumers are demanding it (because they hold the purse strings) and if you are a company who wants to compete AND stay relevant and mainstream, like the food industry who has seen demands for more healthy or gluten free products, you oblige your customers and what they want, and market research indicates, and get ahead of the game against your competitors to stay on top.

[SilenRose]

I can post articles of adults constantly complaining about barbies body shape. I'm not a barbie expert or historian but even if know that the barbie brand has made black, Asian, and Hispanic barbies since the 90's. Also they made a barbie line representing quite a few countries a year or two ago. Also customized dolls aren'the new. They are also more expensive and these new dolls don'the fall into that market either. But the truth will be known based on the sales. Give it a year or two.

[bloodmountain1990]

Meh, it's doing it just for the sake of doing it.

It's kinda like the whole new Ghostbusters that has an all female cast. While I am looking forward to it. It just seemed like hey, we need diversity so let's have it be all females this time just for the sake of it.

[myTake Owner]

Ever heard of Shakespeare? Exactly how many re-re-re-booted versions of everything he's ever done have you seen or heard of. You can't simply stay absolutely the same and expect people to keep considering you relevant/popular/of the times/progressive, etc. Eventually a time will come where people won't want your product or it will age out, get boring, or stale, and if you don't make any changes, your business will eventually die.

[LovelyComputerVirus]

I hated playing with Barbie's when I was a kid... I was a chubby kid and I felt sad looking at the Barbies. Especially the "kid" and "teen" barbie because even they had flat stomachs and boobs and perfect blonde hair, while I was chubby, flat chested, and have a birth defect. They always made me feel inadequate...

[AleDeEurope]

Finally!!!
At last they gave in to the cry babies.

[Accipiter]

Barbie was never anatomically correct as she had exaggerated features like ridiculously long legs and tiny feet.

[Cerenityy]

Oh my god... it's a toy for crying out loud! no little girl is looking at a toy wanting a 14 inch waist. Toys don't need to reflect real life. Get a f*cking grip.

[Cjanes]

Need or not it's still nice to have a doll that looks like you. I'm around kids a lot and you would be surprised how excited some of them get when they see a doll or character that has their name or looks like them. Supply and demand, plus it's not like they stopped making the original Barbie. So chill

[Cerenityy]

@Cjanes it's my bloody opinion, why even reply to me? ✌🏼️

[Cjanes]

What can I say I enjoy poking at people who use swear words instead of manners :)

[myTake Owner]

@Cjanes I agree. I grew up in an almost all white neighborhood, went to a school where I was only one of 10 minorities in my entire class. All the dolls at school were white, but it was my parents who insisted that I had black dolls to play with at least at home because it was important not to feel as though white dolls were the only pretty dolls. Anything we can do to encourage young girls to love themselves, their skin, their body type, should be applauded.

[Cerenityy]

Lmfaooooo and a Barbie doll is going to do that instead of parents encouring positive body image? 😂 I can't with dumb people..

[myTake Owner]

Then you "can't" with yourself. Positive self image doesn't just come from parents. It comes from many different sources. Not everyone has great or encouraging parents. Being able to see yourself in say a professional athlete that looks like you may encourage you to want to be like that athlete or a senator and yes, even a doll who looks like you can help you with positive self image which is also why Barbie dolls have had several hundreds of jobs over the years to reflect what women can do in the real world. I'm not saying a doll can save the world or anything, but again, anything we can do for our kids to encourage them and their self esteem, should be done. Do you have kids, specifically little girls?

[Cerenityy]

You. Are. Ridiculous. Stop writing to me about your atrocious opinion. I'm actually insulted you think girls are that petty. I'm done here. ✌🏼️

[myTake Owner]

You're free to stop responding, but I'm going to leave my opinions... on my own take. Not that I ever needed you know, your permission or anything. I'm guessing from your write off, you have zero children, so maybe one day you'll get it. It's not about glorifying some doll as the source of all things beautiful. It's about giving girls or boys for that matter, tools to play with that reflect their worlds. It's no different than giving a kid a doctor kit or in this case, a barbie who is a doctor, who happens to be the same skin color or have the same hair color as your kid. It's but another tool to help their self esteem. Oh, and no need to respond. I take it you have nothing else to say anyway.

[ShaeNielson]

I think they're making a big deal out of nothing, I played with the "unrealistically proportioned" barbie when I was a kid and it did not affect me in any way.

[sweettckae]

I never had a barbie doll growing up, but I love the new changes they did. It shows little kids that there isn't just one particular barbie out there, now they have options to choose which one they want, or all of the above.

[ClassicRocker]

At least they're smart enough not to make an advertising deal with Nabisco to call the black barbie something ridiculous like "Oreo".
Could you imagine how well that would go over?

[Alayio]

I look most like the tall Asian one with some facial features of another doll in the petite line with blue eyes and black hair. I think they did a bad job at representing red heads in this line though

[ObscuredBeyond]

I still remember when Aladdin first came out, and my sisters thought it would be cool to get a Jasmine-themed Barbie. The dog ate it.

[dominiquois]

hahaha

[ObscuredBeyond]

@dominiquois : I know, right? It doesn't get much more slap-in-the-face than that. When I and my brother used to hang them from the bunk bed with dental floss nooses, that was just "whatever." When the dog started eating their Barbies, my sisters were like: "f* it."

Of course, my brother and I got a lot of ideas from kids in the neighborhood. Years later, I've seen on DeviantArt what happens to kids who, as adults, don't grow out of that crap and it becomes a sex fetish for them.

Pretty disturbing stuff. With guro, I can sort of see the twisted logic behind it. Heck, even Disney's "Return of Jafar" teased kids with the prospect of guro. (Had the Genie been half a second longer in saving Aladdin...)

Vore? I'll probably never understand vore. It's... just too sick and too strange. Looking back now, I can't believe in my childhood i was surrounded by peers with such disturbed and pervy imaginations. Makes me scared to ask where they are today.

[dominiquois]

Lol woah WTF @ sex fetish gross. Some people are mental.
My cousins used to take my Barbies and cut their hair off. I used to cry so much. I hated them for a while for it.

[ObscuredBeyond]

@dominiquois: Probably half the kids on my block growing up belonged in some sort of mental facility. I thought when I reached high school, I'd finally be surrounded by a crowd that was healthy. No such luck. They were pretty screwed up too, just in different ways. Then came college, where I met some who were pretty normal and a few who were batsh*t crazy. Then came my working life. Where I'd say probably 10% of everyone I've met in the workforce has either been mentally hospitalized or deserves to be. And they all seem to be magnetically drawn toward me. I can't escape it. :-/

[dominiquois]

Wow that sucks to be one of the only normal people. Maybe it's a sign that you should study psychology, etc.

[ObscuredBeyond]

@dominiquois: I've had to deal with some depression and a lot of anger, so I wouldn't say I've been able to walk away completely unscathed.

I'm still working on keeping my anger in check. I would hate to think what would happen if I ever did completely lose control. But there are a lot of button-pushers out there who seem to have a suicidal urge to bully dragons. They are as stupid as General Ross in the Hulk franchise.

They better hope they never find a dragon in me, let's put it that way. I have revenge fantasies sometimes I'd be terrified to ever think I'd be capable of acting on, and am glad to Heaven I have never done anything close to anything that barbaric.

Remember the Batman: TAS episode when Harvey finally snaps and becomes Two-Face? It feels like that, mixed with the Saw movies.

[SakuraChii]

I users to have black Barbie dolls growing up (they had straight hair though) but I've never seen Asian or Hispanic ones