A couple of years ago, Barbie decided to make some big changes with their doll line. Instead of the standard barbie which had been around for years with an extremely large bust, extremely small waist, and ridiculously long legs, they decided to give her more realistic proportions which were met with a lot of praise from Barbie fans across the country, but Barbies were still all the same height, and all were skinny.
The next evolution changed Barbies proportions to give her more of a modern athletic shape. She was proportionally shorter, with a more athletic build which jived with the modern day message that emphasized a healthier figure for the doll and young girls alike.
The next step came from a lot of customer feedback in wanting more diverse dolls. For many years, the only ethnic dolls you could find in the line were specialty collections of dolls with limited releases. In most markets there were only really 2 options for the doll, either a white doll or a black one, yet so many girls from so many ethnicities loved Barbies and parents in particular wanted the dolls to reflect what their own children looked like. Barbie took the feedback in stride, and decided to not only diversify the faces of Barbie, but to stop relying on the standard long straight or long curly hair for every doll. The new dolls were more diverse in more ways than one with colored hair, shaved hair, afro hair, short hair, red hair, and multi-colored hair.
Around the same time, the doll makers decided to also diversify the body shapes of the dolls themselves. Barbie would now come in Tall, Curvy, and Petite sizes. Not only that, but they started to give Barbie flats to wear, and not just her standard workout gear tennis shoes, but flats like normal human women wear when tooling around town. Each doll became much more distinct from one another in a reflection of the reality of life.
And why stop there. If Barbie got a makeover, why not Ken? Ken would no longer just be all muscles and one standard face and hairstyle molded into slightly different colors all the time.
Ken would now come in broad, original, and skinny body shapes, and just like his female counterpart, his hair and looks would change to reflect the times. New hairstyles like corn rows, modern haircuts, and the infamous man bun were introduced as well as new clothing options that were meant to reflect what young men are supposedly more likely to wear these days vs. the old boring standard wedding tux of yesteryear.
Toys are always a unique reflection and snapshot of the generation they represent. And why not, as in the case of Barbie, give children a chance to pick and choose dolls that perhaps reflect who they are in some way. The world is a very diverse place filled with people of all shapes and sizes, and now modern day Barbie reflects that in a positive way.
The 2017 "New Crew" line
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