Barbie Celebrates Diversity By Creating Differently-Abled Dolls With Vitiligo And No Hair That Come In 35 Different Skin Tones
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While most people probably still imagine Barbie as a tall, white doll with a slim figure and bright blonde hair, she’s not what she used to be. After being one of the most beloved toys for decades, the Barbie doll has evolved to reflect not only what kids see around them, but who they are themselves. To highlight the importance of diversity, Mattel has drastically expanded its Fashionistas line to include dolls of different sizes, colors, and abilities.
More info: barbie.mattel.com | Instagram
Recently, Mattel expanded its diverse Fashionistas line by adding a Barbie doll with Vitiligo
Image credits: barbie.mattel.com
Recently, the company introduced a brand new doll with Vitiligo.
Image credits: barbie.mattel.com
After working with dermatologists, the company developed a doll that accurately portrays this condition which causes loss of skin color in blotches.
Image credits: barbie.mattel.com
Image credits: barbie.mattel.com
To make the representation of different medical conditions even wider, the company also created a doll with no hair.
Image credits: barbie.mattel.com
Over the years, Mattel has been adding new, diverse dolls to its 5-year-old Fashionistas line. Currently, the line features a huge variety of 176 dolls.
Image credits: barbie.mattel.com
The company now offers dolls in 9 different body types which include curvy, petite, and tall.
The line now features dolls with 9 body types, 35 skin tones, and 94 hairstyles
Image credits: barbie.mattel.com
Mattel knows how important Barbie’s hair is, so now Barbies rock 94 hairstyles such as rainbow-colored hair, afro, short hair, and many others.
Image credits: barbie.mattel.com
Image credits: barbie.mattel.com
What’s even more exciting, for the first time ever, Mattel introduced Ken with long hair.
Image credits: barbie.mattel.com
While barbie dolls were white for a very long time, Mattel has finally diversified its dolls by introducing 35 different skin tones.
Image credits: barbie.mattel.com
Mattel also included differently-abled Barbie dolls
Image credits: barbie.mattel.com
Differently-abled dolls can also be found in this line.
Image credits: barbie.mattel.com
Some of the Barbies now have prosthetic limbs and wheelchairs.
Image credits: barbie.mattel.com
“We are proud that Barbie is the most diverse doll line on the market that continues to evolve to better reflect the world girls see around them,” said Lisa McKnight, senior vice president and global head of Barbie and its dolls portfolio.
Image credits: barbie.mattel.com
As Mattel continues to grow in diversity, more and more kids around the world can see the real world reflected in their toys.
Here’s how people reacted
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This is great! About time
I want a longhaired Ken.
same
Fun fact: Barbie was originally based off of an early 1950s German sex doll named Bild Lilli. Mattel has come a long way!
Sex doll? Are you serious? The Bild Lilli doll was 12 inches tall and had the same anatomical detail as a Barbie doll. Explain to me how one gets it on with that (well, I can see how a female could, but I'm sure you get my point).
not sex doll literally, it was kind of collective toy intended for adults
considering that people can get off to idea of having sex with a bridge or berlin wall, I refuse to feel surprised by literally anything in that regard.
Yes, she was. The original doll was a comic character who made her living in very shady ways! Mattel bought the rights to her (also in a kinda shady way) and named her after her daughter who I gather wasn't a high class hooker like Bild Lilli.
Nonsense.
No, it was actually based off the creators children, Ken and Barbie. Which is weird because I'm pretty sure at one point those two were marketed as lovers...
Barbie was named after the daughter, not sure about Ken. But the Barbie build was based on the Bild Lili doll
Sorry but if you want to correct someone, please check you facts first. Where does this information come frome? The creator got the idea from her daughter Barbara playing with dress-up-dolls and later found the above mentioned "Bild Lili" while shopping and created Barbie based on that doll. So Brandon Germer is absolutly right! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie#History
catlady6000 ken was based off her son
um barbie was based off Ruth Handlers daughter -_-
why the dislike? its the truth
This is great! If you can have customizable Chucks, why not Barbies too? I'd make mine to look like me... a 50-year-old Joan Jett wannabe with nerd glasses and cat hair on all my Barbie clothes. Mattel... get on this! :-D
Just rub your doll on your cat and Voila, cat haired Jett wannabe!
A down syndrome and little person Barbie would be great. There are so many families like this represented on TV now and it would be nice for the children to dolls representative of their own families and friends as well.
Good point on the little person one. Now THAT'S an underrepresented group.
Hopefully soon ! I think given some time they will keep expanding this line.
I think that this is a great idea. So many young ladies developed eating disorders because they thought that they were supposed to be that thin. I think that it is a great idea that Mattel is embracing all bodies and all skin colors. Also can we just discuss how great this is and not insult each other over how Barbies came into existence?
I do like finding out the history of things. I agree, why insult someone because they may have gotten it wrong?
God, I would have adored a dark Barbie with an Afro!! But, not white blondes, only, in my childhood.
same but its not to late to get some im collecting them and im wayyy old for dolls XD
Damn I wish this happened when I was younger. I loved Barbies!
for even better results, they could consider having those parts be interchangeable so the kids/parents can mix and match them
This is so kewl! They should make a doll with albinism :D
I hope this is sarcastic
This was meant to be a reply to a critical comment it's not about the article
Oooh! These look pretty darn good. More diversity, and it's educational for kids who don't know some of the different skin types
Where is fat & super fat barbie???
how about a functional bulimic Barbie?
You mean "thyroid disorder" Barbie?
That is great. :) I hope they also make a white doll with vitiligo because uneven skin color is problem also to many white people and many people use tons of make-up to hide that. Vitiligo areas also get sun burn easier. Of course vitiligo is more easier to see on dark skinned people so I understand that the dark vitiligo doll is more important to release first. :) Also an albino doll could raise awareness of albinism. :)
I totally agree! The vitiligo on my legs makes me look like i am tanned with scars but I'm caucasian none the less. I also have a 'mallen streak' which I get a lot of looks for but it makes me unique. If these dolls were the norm when I was younger I wouldn't have had so many cruel comments, possibly.
look up what George Carlin has to say about differently abled
I wish he were still around to see what's happened.
"First long-haired Ken"? Oh, please. 1998 Harley Davidson Ken and others since then.
Diversity should be briught into kids toys because God made us all so different to start with. I think it's a wonderful idea and I applaud Mattel for their decision to do this!
"differently-abled" is probably the funniest word I've heard this year. my 1960 Barbie is rolling in her shoe box.
ooo i want more of these (yes im a teenager who collects barbie dolls okay?)
I'm interested how far Mattel will expand this
I appreciate the intent, but "differently abled" is not considered appropriate terminology. "Person with a disability" or "disabled" are preferred. https://ncdj.org/style-guide/
Wait 45 minutes and a new buzzword will take its place. We need to stop that nonsense.
This is great! More option is always good. I'd love to see a Barbie without make-up and with realistic body proportions
omg i wanna play with barbies like right now 😮
This is cool, we have more diversity but less quality, i miss the fully articulated barbies we used to have in the early 2000's. We need the new ones with the features older ones have.
I never even realized that.... Now that I think about it, all of my sisters dolls were white (I was a tomboy, I didn't own any lol) There weren't many of other colors available.
I want poor Ken to have a realistic body and be able to bend his arms and legs. Come on, It's about time, isn't it?
In 1959 or 1960 I was fighting with my older sister. I grabbed her Barbie doll, threw it down and stomped on it. It pushed Barbie's boobies in, lol. My sis cried and hit me with a rock she was so mad.
I watched the barbie documentary about a month ago (About a few years after it was made and release on hulu) and I'm glad they're getting more and more diverse :)
Lol I don't know if they already have this but I wish they had a barbie maker online and then you could buy it so you get a barbie that looks like you :3 I have really curly brown hair, glasses, and I'm very small so I would love a barbie like me
make barbies that come with pride flags i fucking need a pandemi barbie
why the dislikes?
IDK I want a pride barbie!!!! hell yes <3
I love it. Not fond of barbies but I think i am gonna buy all of them.
Yeah... and still is nothing wrong about anatomy. Arms longer then legs f.e. Rubbish!
No comment
there are 35 different skin tones??!!
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Still waiting for my morbidly obese Barbie, Inuit Barbie, Australian Aborigine Barbie, and elephantiasis Barbie.
You put a person's nationality in the same league as a dangerous health condition? Wow.
He's tried and true racist. Not shocking
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Ah good. I'm totally screwed up because they didn't have a non-anorexic, short dark-haired child barbie. I've always thought I was supposed to be a grown up, blond, long-haired woman when I was a kid.
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Hey look more disgusting faggot racism cause for retarded dipshits diversity means always black people
Excuse me sir or ma'am, but this comment itself is racist and homophobic! Diversity are all colours that a human can come in and be from, and saying that this is gay is very offensive to the people who were abused for liking another gender. Plus I'd like to say that not only do you swear more than a drunken Irishman (not literally just the saying), but your grammar is repulsive and abominable. Have a nice day Lord Farquaad!
Maybe you struggle with reading but "The line now features dolls with 9 body types, 35 skin tones, and 94 hairstyles" that seems to cover quite a bit, not just 'white and black'.
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When will there be non-binary Barbie and Ken-who-identifies-as-Barbie Mattel-Shitlords?!
what
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C'mon, that was kinda funny. Don't act like around the water cooler there aren't all kinds of people making "identifies as..." jokes about this.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Pitiful angry baby. Pay your mom some rent. Get a job
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
It's homofobia! How does a kid have to gess who is a lesbian?
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
This is stupid. They should've kept them white and skinny with long blonde hair. This promotes obesity;
It doesn't promote it, but it says that others are overweight and they shouldn't be hurt by others for being that size
This is great! About time
I want a longhaired Ken.
same
Fun fact: Barbie was originally based off of an early 1950s German sex doll named Bild Lilli. Mattel has come a long way!
Sex doll? Are you serious? The Bild Lilli doll was 12 inches tall and had the same anatomical detail as a Barbie doll. Explain to me how one gets it on with that (well, I can see how a female could, but I'm sure you get my point).
not sex doll literally, it was kind of collective toy intended for adults
considering that people can get off to idea of having sex with a bridge or berlin wall, I refuse to feel surprised by literally anything in that regard.
Yes, she was. The original doll was a comic character who made her living in very shady ways! Mattel bought the rights to her (also in a kinda shady way) and named her after her daughter who I gather wasn't a high class hooker like Bild Lilli.
Nonsense.
No, it was actually based off the creators children, Ken and Barbie. Which is weird because I'm pretty sure at one point those two were marketed as lovers...
Barbie was named after the daughter, not sure about Ken. But the Barbie build was based on the Bild Lili doll
Sorry but if you want to correct someone, please check you facts first. Where does this information come frome? The creator got the idea from her daughter Barbara playing with dress-up-dolls and later found the above mentioned "Bild Lili" while shopping and created Barbie based on that doll. So Brandon Germer is absolutly right! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie#History
catlady6000 ken was based off her son
um barbie was based off Ruth Handlers daughter -_-
why the dislike? its the truth
This is great! If you can have customizable Chucks, why not Barbies too? I'd make mine to look like me... a 50-year-old Joan Jett wannabe with nerd glasses and cat hair on all my Barbie clothes. Mattel... get on this! :-D
Just rub your doll on your cat and Voila, cat haired Jett wannabe!
A down syndrome and little person Barbie would be great. There are so many families like this represented on TV now and it would be nice for the children to dolls representative of their own families and friends as well.
Good point on the little person one. Now THAT'S an underrepresented group.
Hopefully soon ! I think given some time they will keep expanding this line.
I think that this is a great idea. So many young ladies developed eating disorders because they thought that they were supposed to be that thin. I think that it is a great idea that Mattel is embracing all bodies and all skin colors. Also can we just discuss how great this is and not insult each other over how Barbies came into existence?
I do like finding out the history of things. I agree, why insult someone because they may have gotten it wrong?
God, I would have adored a dark Barbie with an Afro!! But, not white blondes, only, in my childhood.
same but its not to late to get some im collecting them and im wayyy old for dolls XD
Damn I wish this happened when I was younger. I loved Barbies!
for even better results, they could consider having those parts be interchangeable so the kids/parents can mix and match them
This is so kewl! They should make a doll with albinism :D
I hope this is sarcastic
This was meant to be a reply to a critical comment it's not about the article
Oooh! These look pretty darn good. More diversity, and it's educational for kids who don't know some of the different skin types
Where is fat & super fat barbie???
how about a functional bulimic Barbie?
You mean "thyroid disorder" Barbie?
That is great. :) I hope they also make a white doll with vitiligo because uneven skin color is problem also to many white people and many people use tons of make-up to hide that. Vitiligo areas also get sun burn easier. Of course vitiligo is more easier to see on dark skinned people so I understand that the dark vitiligo doll is more important to release first. :) Also an albino doll could raise awareness of albinism. :)
I totally agree! The vitiligo on my legs makes me look like i am tanned with scars but I'm caucasian none the less. I also have a 'mallen streak' which I get a lot of looks for but it makes me unique. If these dolls were the norm when I was younger I wouldn't have had so many cruel comments, possibly.
look up what George Carlin has to say about differently abled
I wish he were still around to see what's happened.
"First long-haired Ken"? Oh, please. 1998 Harley Davidson Ken and others since then.
Diversity should be briught into kids toys because God made us all so different to start with. I think it's a wonderful idea and I applaud Mattel for their decision to do this!
"differently-abled" is probably the funniest word I've heard this year. my 1960 Barbie is rolling in her shoe box.
ooo i want more of these (yes im a teenager who collects barbie dolls okay?)
I'm interested how far Mattel will expand this
I appreciate the intent, but "differently abled" is not considered appropriate terminology. "Person with a disability" or "disabled" are preferred. https://ncdj.org/style-guide/
Wait 45 minutes and a new buzzword will take its place. We need to stop that nonsense.
This is great! More option is always good. I'd love to see a Barbie without make-up and with realistic body proportions
omg i wanna play with barbies like right now 😮
This is cool, we have more diversity but less quality, i miss the fully articulated barbies we used to have in the early 2000's. We need the new ones with the features older ones have.
I never even realized that.... Now that I think about it, all of my sisters dolls were white (I was a tomboy, I didn't own any lol) There weren't many of other colors available.
I want poor Ken to have a realistic body and be able to bend his arms and legs. Come on, It's about time, isn't it?
In 1959 or 1960 I was fighting with my older sister. I grabbed her Barbie doll, threw it down and stomped on it. It pushed Barbie's boobies in, lol. My sis cried and hit me with a rock she was so mad.
I watched the barbie documentary about a month ago (About a few years after it was made and release on hulu) and I'm glad they're getting more and more diverse :)
Lol I don't know if they already have this but I wish they had a barbie maker online and then you could buy it so you get a barbie that looks like you :3 I have really curly brown hair, glasses, and I'm very small so I would love a barbie like me
make barbies that come with pride flags i fucking need a pandemi barbie
why the dislikes?
IDK I want a pride barbie!!!! hell yes <3
I love it. Not fond of barbies but I think i am gonna buy all of them.
Yeah... and still is nothing wrong about anatomy. Arms longer then legs f.e. Rubbish!
No comment
there are 35 different skin tones??!!
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Still waiting for my morbidly obese Barbie, Inuit Barbie, Australian Aborigine Barbie, and elephantiasis Barbie.
You put a person's nationality in the same league as a dangerous health condition? Wow.
He's tried and true racist. Not shocking
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Ah good. I'm totally screwed up because they didn't have a non-anorexic, short dark-haired child barbie. I've always thought I was supposed to be a grown up, blond, long-haired woman when I was a kid.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Hey look more disgusting faggot racism cause for retarded dipshits diversity means always black people
Excuse me sir or ma'am, but this comment itself is racist and homophobic! Diversity are all colours that a human can come in and be from, and saying that this is gay is very offensive to the people who were abused for liking another gender. Plus I'd like to say that not only do you swear more than a drunken Irishman (not literally just the saying), but your grammar is repulsive and abominable. Have a nice day Lord Farquaad!
Maybe you struggle with reading but "The line now features dolls with 9 body types, 35 skin tones, and 94 hairstyles" that seems to cover quite a bit, not just 'white and black'.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
When will there be non-binary Barbie and Ken-who-identifies-as-Barbie Mattel-Shitlords?!
what
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C'mon, that was kinda funny. Don't act like around the water cooler there aren't all kinds of people making "identifies as..." jokes about this.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Pitiful angry baby. Pay your mom some rent. Get a job
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
It's homofobia! How does a kid have to gess who is a lesbian?
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
This is stupid. They should've kept them white and skinny with long blonde hair. This promotes obesity;
It doesn't promote it, but it says that others are overweight and they shouldn't be hurt by others for being that size