Barbie Evolves: Too Little, Too Late?

You heard the news. Barbie has evolved. Rolling out over the next many months are Barbie dolls of 4 body types, 7 skin tones, 22 eye colors (that seems a bit excessive), and 24 hairstyles. This has gotten plenty of press, most of it glowing. As happens after a long day of fighting the patriarchy (and before a long night playing Destiny), some of the women on the BNP Staff got to talking about Barbie — what we remembered, what we loved, what we hated, and what we felt about the big announcement. What we had to say may surprise you. Carrie I had several dolls growing up. My mom made sure of that! I, too, had Barbies. I’ve bought Barbies. I’ve critiqued Barbie both as playtoy and as an American icon. Surely she’s created a legacy that’s not going away anytime soon. And certain editions of the doll — like the Moschino Barbie with a commercial that features, for the very first time ever, a little boy — seek to challenge common stereotypes of gender-based toys. We can’t deny that good ol’ Barbie still got it. I mean… the Ava Duvernay Barbie doll sold out in mere minutes. Mere minutes. Viola with her Ava doll [divider type=”space_thin”] But I gotta share a not-so-secret, dirty little secret here… Mattel suffered a HUGE loss by losing the Disney Princess doll line to Hasbro. Which means what, exactly? That they are hurting! Sales are suffering and they need a new sales pitch to help hold them over. So what do they do? Introduce these new Barbie dolls with diverse shapes and al…