Barbie Goes Diverse... Again?
It's 2018, a year we thought was supposed to be the additive culmination of progressive movements toward inclusivity and an outlier from its utterly disappointing predecessors: 2016 and 2017. Unfortunately, we still have a racist yam for a "President" and heinously embarrassing color ranges for makeup. Well prepare your bodies, because Barbie has a new line of "she-roes" (she-heroes?) that is supposed to inspire and highlight diversity for young girls.
So... Intent?
Okay, sure... If I'm being naive and agreeing that a multi-billion industry that has taken pathetic "baby steps" toward inclusivity is all of the sudden committed to having an all-encompassing empowering message, then yes, this new line means something for pop culture. Am I being too negative? Maybe.
But hear me out. My skepticism roots from the fact that the body-positive Barbie was limited to one release, and focused more on diversifying hair color and body shape than actual face structure and hair type. The creepy homogeneity of the faces that don't really look like the people they're supposed to resemble makes it hard to believe that the precedent for diversity in the Barbie World isn't just painting white Barbie's face different colors. Seriously. More attention was put to extending the courtesy of sensitivity to diversity for Mattel's "Diverse Ken" line, also known as the line that exemplifies "What Guys That Won't Text You Back Look Like."
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The new line of dolls takes female icons such as Chloe Kim, Frida Kahlo, Ibtihaj Muhammad, and Bindi Irwin and proposes that actually seeing the role model will extend girls' dreams past mere imagination. The motive for this line? Barbie's campaign cites this statistic:
"86% of moms surveyed are worried about the kind of role models their daughters are exposed to."
I'm sure they do, but how is taking an individual and boxing in her respective achievements to encompass an entire ethnic group productive? Maybe I'm asking for too much, but I what I want is for these lines of inclusive dolls to remain consistent in presence and purchase.
Also, it's not just the token individuals we should be idolizing, but also the more ordinary people who deserve just as much marketing, like veterinarian Barbie, CEO Barbie, and aerobics instructor Barbie in diverse races, body types, what have you. I appreciate, to an extent, the efforts that Barbie is putting forth to make the individuals look truer to reality, but this campaign was a little too much hype for so little effect.
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