Fifty-seven years after she first hit the shelves, Barbie has finally grown up. After years of being scrutinized for unachievable beauty standards that Barbie dolls set for young girls, it is time for a change. While some speculate that this is the result of pressure from society and competitors, regardless of the reason, it’s refreshing to see tall, slim, and curvy Barbies who come in 7 different skin colors. And so finally, Mattel is celebrating the different body types with its realistic dolls. Long overdue, if you ask us!
The secret project to change Barbie’s image was code-named Project Dawn, and only 20 people knew of the plan to create more life-like dolls. The first new realistic Barbies will hit the shelves today, January 28th, and Mattel will be observing to see what happens. Do you think these dols represent a realistic body image?
More info: barbie.com (h/t: time)
Besides the whole pc realism thing, I just think it's cool to see a bunch of girls who look slightly different hanging out. Makes it more life like, like a bunch of friends in real life. I think they're cool.
I appreciate their initiative, but, honestly, when I was young, I remember I didn't care at all that she was thin and unrealistic, I didn't even notice it. I liked outfits (especially to sew them myself in my own childish clumsy way) and I liked my Barbie to be blonde. Thanks to a Barbie doctor my dad bought me when I was 4, I started liking the idea of becoming a doctor myself. But times changed, back then dead-skinny wasn't popular, physical appearance wasn't that important, I didn't have that much access to TV and mum protected me from weird programmes. I think it all depends on how you build your child's world and especially how you as a parent think. If you consider physical appearance important, so will you child, he/she will try to reach your standards in order to make you proud. If you value other things, such as intelligence, determination, etc (for yourself as well, not only for the ones around you), then so will your child.
LOL! So much negativity, at least now there's more variety, in the end what matters is how parent raise their kids and teach them how to see the world in the best way possible. Barbie dolls don't matter if kids grow up feeling secure about themselfs.
I loved playing with barbie dolls when I was younger and I would have appreciated this :)
Now you'll have to buy different sizes of clothes for each. Seems like wasting money :\
Ok, so Im thinking that chubby barbie looks good in the skirt but should steer away from those jeans :) Good fashion lesson for children in that
Not sure kids the right age to play with Barbies need any "fashion lesson". Childhood is short enough that they shouldn't worry bout fashion
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There can't be "one" realistic one because there isn't a specific body type that is "realistic" :). They all exist, so how can one be more real or better than the other?
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If children cared about "realism" Bratz and Monster High dolls wouldn't be so popular and beating Barbie in sales. Raise your hand if you think young girsl is going to demand that her mom buys them chubby barbie for their birthday. These dolls are for women not children. Hopefully the women who were begging for this product will get keys and drive to Walmart and buy them, because they surely will not be bought by any 8 year old girls I know. Children don't think like adults and some adults have trouble realizing that stuff they find important really don't matter to kids. Chubby Barbie is on of these things.
Uhhhh, my niece has requested chubby dolls in the past because she's a little chubby too. Don't assume you, an adult, know what children want, either. Having different sizes of Barbie will just show girls that all women can be as powerful and successful as Barbie and her friends.
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dont know about this either i'm thinking about how i used to like putting my barbies in different outfits and how some outfits won't fit certain barbies now does girls already have to deal with this issue at a young age??
Good point. But having had various Barbie-like dolls from various companies, although they're all made after similar patterns, they were somehow different. The clothes, more or less fit them all, and yet they didn look the samw on all. The shoes were kind of a big deal though. Some Barbies had differently shaped feet. Also, I liked making my own clothes for my dolls too. I think it depends on how you introduce them to the little kid.
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LOL! Mattel would be better off just sticking with the original. All they're doing is providing even more fuel for scads of people to take offence because 'they're not represented'. Newsflash people: products aren't made to specifically please YOU. Instead of being princesses/princes, why not learn to see the beauty in something that's different from what you want? Is there a reason that heavier/curvier people can't look at a Barbie doll and appreciate if for what it is without comparing themselves? It doesn't take away from YOUR beauty. I'm slim, but I can still look at a muscular guy, or an obese guy, and admire them.
It's a beautiful idea to embrace natural beauty rather than insist on something totally unnatural. I approve (y)
They really suck at this: where is the slim Barbie with a realistic body?! The only slim one could not stand up if her life depended on it!
The tall black one? (Ups! The one on the bottom is wrongly hit reply....)
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And now you'll have to buy three times as many clothes...seems like Mattel is winning, too.
I like their good intentions, however, kids really don't care about issues like this. All they see is toys: they either play with them or they don't...
cool! they just need to list the sizes of clothes for every kind of barbie... xD cause sometimes when i get them, they dont fit any of my barbies
Just like her. Now they can believe that they don't have to be the most pretties or skinniest girl. They don't have to be some one their not
Go through their life. Now they can start playing look a like dolls. Young girls as my self when I was looked up to Barbie and wanted to be
I honestly believe they show a good example for little girls to be open minded of what real other girls they will discover or meet as they
I actually think it's a good idea to include some more realistic looking barbies.. at least now there is more variety. However, as a little girl, I didn't care how 'unrealistic' Barbie looked like, I just loved her long hair and amount of clothes.. There are loads of unrealistic toys that kids just don't tend to over analyse like adults do.
So cute, but sadly none of them look like me :( I'm curvy, tall and white. But a great idea! Good job Barbie! :)
They say its a realistic doll...but my hair doesn't look like that.
They. Are. A. Toy!! Thank Dickens I never felt the need to imitate A TOY or developed body issues because I didn't look like a Troll Doll (my preferred toy). Just as my brother never felt the need to be like HeMan or a Match Box car. Clearly our parents had the sense to explain things to us. As a result, I have never felt the need to vilify a plastic doll nor the company who produced them. Also Bored Panda "..20 people KNEW about them".
Says the man with the Batman mask on his head...
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I really want the one with blue hair, though I'm a bit too old (24), but I really loved dolls as a kid and loved variety of them and as I a kid I would have wanted all of those. I think this is so awesome and I don't much care about the whole 'right body imagine movement'.
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Someone should tell the author that the proper grammar is "only 20 people KNEW of it's existence" not NEW
Chava, much as it pains me to be the one to tell you this, I feel that I must: the word is "its", not "it's". You added your own error into the mix. Don't play this game unless you know ALL the rules.
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Curvy Barbie is really the only one with a body that is similar to many real life women. It would have been nice to see an athletic Barbie instead of a tall Barbie that looks like a supermodel and a petite Barbie that looks more like a woman and less like many young women who have eating disorders.
How about flat-chest and big booty? Why are they all still hourglass-shaped?
Funny, I thought chubby Barbie has a big bum not proportionate with her chest and shoulders...
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So their idea of curves would still essentially be a size 2-4. The proportions on all are still completely unrealistic. I am petite but I'm sure not built like that even though I am quite fit. Do we congratulate them on a step forward that is 50 years late? I suppose baby steps are better than none. I suspect the true motivation is their last quarter sales dropped substantially.
They always find something to complain about...
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Kids will absolutely........................................hate this. Playtime is over, welcome to reality kids!
yeah as a kid i saved up to get a curvy barbie, i literally only wanted it because it was curvy and had joints.
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They're responding to adult insecurities. I don't think they'll sell very well. When I was a kid, I didn't notice that Barbie's figure was unrealistic, nor did I feel pressure to grow up to be shaped like her. Different skin colors and ethnic features to the faces and hair are nice, but when they change the overall shape of the doll we're used to, it looks nothing like Barbie. They look like generic dolls of an unknown brand to me.
At the same time, slim shaming is gaining in popularity. Overweight people dis slim people more and more overtly. We are far from diversity.
Load More Replies... Besides the whole pc realism thing, I just think it's cool to see a bunch of girls who look slightly different hanging out. Makes it more life like, like a bunch of friends in real life. I think they're cool.
I appreciate their initiative, but, honestly, when I was young, I remember I didn't care at all that she was thin and unrealistic, I didn't even notice it. I liked outfits (especially to sew them myself in my own childish clumsy way) and I liked my Barbie to be blonde. Thanks to a Barbie doctor my dad bought me when I was 4, I started liking the idea of becoming a doctor myself. But times changed, back then dead-skinny wasn't popular, physical appearance wasn't that important, I didn't have that much access to TV and mum protected me from weird programmes. I think it all depends on how you build your child's world and especially how you as a parent think. If you consider physical appearance important, so will you child, he/she will try to reach your standards in order to make you proud. If you value other things, such as intelligence, determination, etc (for yourself as well, not only for the ones around you), then so will your child.
LOL! So much negativity, at least now there's more variety, in the end what matters is how parent raise their kids and teach them how to see the world in the best way possible. Barbie dolls don't matter if kids grow up feeling secure about themselfs.
I loved playing with barbie dolls when I was younger and I would have appreciated this :)
Now you'll have to buy different sizes of clothes for each. Seems like wasting money :\
Ok, so Im thinking that chubby barbie looks good in the skirt but should steer away from those jeans :) Good fashion lesson for children in that
Not sure kids the right age to play with Barbies need any "fashion lesson". Childhood is short enough that they shouldn't worry bout fashion
Load More Replies... There can't be "one" realistic one because there isn't a specific body type that is "realistic" :). They all exist, so how can one be more real or better than the other?
Load More Replies... If children cared about "realism" Bratz and Monster High dolls wouldn't be so popular and beating Barbie in sales. Raise your hand if you think young girsl is going to demand that her mom buys them chubby barbie for their birthday. These dolls are for women not children. Hopefully the women who were begging for this product will get keys and drive to Walmart and buy them, because they surely will not be bought by any 8 year old girls I know. Children don't think like adults and some adults have trouble realizing that stuff they find important really don't matter to kids. Chubby Barbie is on of these things.
Uhhhh, my niece has requested chubby dolls in the past because she's a little chubby too. Don't assume you, an adult, know what children want, either. Having different sizes of Barbie will just show girls that all women can be as powerful and successful as Barbie and her friends.
Load More Replies... dont know about this either i'm thinking about how i used to like putting my barbies in different outfits and how some outfits won't fit certain barbies now does girls already have to deal with this issue at a young age??
Good point. But having had various Barbie-like dolls from various companies, although they're all made after similar patterns, they were somehow different. The clothes, more or less fit them all, and yet they didn look the samw on all. The shoes were kind of a big deal though. Some Barbies had differently shaped feet. Also, I liked making my own clothes for my dolls too. I think it depends on how you introduce them to the little kid.
Load More Replies... LOL! Mattel would be better off just sticking with the original. All they're doing is providing even more fuel for scads of people to take offence because 'they're not represented'. Newsflash people: products aren't made to specifically please YOU. Instead of being princesses/princes, why not learn to see the beauty in something that's different from what you want? Is there a reason that heavier/curvier people can't look at a Barbie doll and appreciate if for what it is without comparing themselves? It doesn't take away from YOUR beauty. I'm slim, but I can still look at a muscular guy, or an obese guy, and admire them.
It's a beautiful idea to embrace natural beauty rather than insist on something totally unnatural. I approve (y)
They really suck at this: where is the slim Barbie with a realistic body?! The only slim one could not stand up if her life depended on it!
The tall black one? (Ups! The one on the bottom is wrongly hit reply....)
Load More Replies... And now you'll have to buy three times as many clothes...seems like Mattel is winning, too.
I like their good intentions, however, kids really don't care about issues like this. All they see is toys: they either play with them or they don't...
cool! they just need to list the sizes of clothes for every kind of barbie... xD cause sometimes when i get them, they dont fit any of my barbies
Just like her. Now they can believe that they don't have to be the most pretties or skinniest girl. They don't have to be some one their not
Go through their life. Now they can start playing look a like dolls. Young girls as my self when I was looked up to Barbie and wanted to be
I honestly believe they show a good example for little girls to be open minded of what real other girls they will discover or meet as they
I actually think it's a good idea to include some more realistic looking barbies.. at least now there is more variety. However, as a little girl, I didn't care how 'unrealistic' Barbie looked like, I just loved her long hair and amount of clothes.. There are loads of unrealistic toys that kids just don't tend to over analyse like adults do.
So cute, but sadly none of them look like me :( I'm curvy, tall and white. But a great idea! Good job Barbie! :)
They say its a realistic doll...but my hair doesn't look like that.
They. Are. A. Toy!! Thank Dickens I never felt the need to imitate A TOY or developed body issues because I didn't look like a Troll Doll (my preferred toy). Just as my brother never felt the need to be like HeMan or a Match Box car. Clearly our parents had the sense to explain things to us. As a result, I have never felt the need to vilify a plastic doll nor the company who produced them. Also Bored Panda "..20 people KNEW about them".
Says the man with the Batman mask on his head...
Load More Replies... I really want the one with blue hair, though I'm a bit too old (24), but I really loved dolls as a kid and loved variety of them and as I a kid I would have wanted all of those. I think this is so awesome and I don't much care about the whole 'right body imagine movement'.
Load More Replies... Someone should tell the author that the proper grammar is "only 20 people KNEW of it's existence" not NEW
Chava, much as it pains me to be the one to tell you this, I feel that I must: the word is "its", not "it's". You added your own error into the mix. Don't play this game unless you know ALL the rules.
Load More Replies... Curvy Barbie is really the only one with a body that is similar to many real life women. It would have been nice to see an athletic Barbie instead of a tall Barbie that looks like a supermodel and a petite Barbie that looks more like a woman and less like many young women who have eating disorders.
How about flat-chest and big booty? Why are they all still hourglass-shaped?
Funny, I thought chubby Barbie has a big bum not proportionate with her chest and shoulders...
Load More Replies... So their idea of curves would still essentially be a size 2-4. The proportions on all are still completely unrealistic. I am petite but I'm sure not built like that even though I am quite fit. Do we congratulate them on a step forward that is 50 years late? I suppose baby steps are better than none. I suspect the true motivation is their last quarter sales dropped substantially.
They always find something to complain about...
Load More Replies... Kids will absolutely........................................hate this. Playtime is over, welcome to reality kids!
yeah as a kid i saved up to get a curvy barbie, i literally only wanted it because it was curvy and had joints.
Load More Replies... They're responding to adult insecurities. I don't think they'll sell very well. When I was a kid, I didn't notice that Barbie's figure was unrealistic, nor did I feel pressure to grow up to be shaped like her. Different skin colors and ethnic features to the faces and hair are nice, but when they change the overall shape of the doll we're used to, it looks nothing like Barbie. They look like generic dolls of an unknown brand to me.
At the same time, slim shaming is gaining in popularity. Overweight people dis slim people more and more overtly. We are far from diversity.
Load More Replies...
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