Barbie gets lots of new looks; will more girls want to play with her now?

By Associated Press, adapted by Newsela staff02.02.16

NEW YORK, N.Y. — Poor Barbie. She had plastic surgery to become more socially acceptable. Unfortunately, many people do not like her new look.

Mattel, the company that makes Barbie, announced that the doll has three new body types. She comes in curvy, tall and petite. Barbie will also now come in seven skin tones, 22 eye colors and 24 hairstyles. Michelle Chidoni is a Mattel spokeswoman. She said the product is evolving to "offer more choices" to make "the line more reflective of the world girls see around them."

Too Much Stress On Fashion?

However, not everyone thinks the change is good. Kris Macomber is a professor of sociology at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina. She's "reluctant to celebrate Barbie's changes because it doesn't change the fact that Barbie dolls and other kinds of fashion dolls still over-emphasize female beauty. Sure, all body types should be valued. And, sure, all skin colors should be valued equally. But why must we keep sending girls the message that being beautiful is so important?"

Josh Golin is with the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. He tries to get companies to stop showing so many commercials to kids. Golin said Barbie's changes are due to activists who for years have challenged her "unrealistic and harmful body type" and worked for change. But body type "was only one of the criticisms," he said. "The other was the brand's relentless focus on appearance and fashion." Mattel cares too much about outside appearance, he thinks.

Fewer Girls Choose Barbie

Kumea Shorter-Gooden is the co-author of "Shifting: The Double Lives of Black Women in America." Shorter-Gooden said in the past Barbie has a bigger impact on black girls struggling with messages about skin color and hair. Shorter-Gooden praised Mattel "for diversifying the size and look of Barbie." However, she noted that "European-American hair still prevails," and that the dolls' outfits still "convey a traditional and constraining gender norm about how girls and women should look."

Barbie's looks may never measure up to society's changing expectations. Another question worth asking is whether kids still want to play with Barbies. 

Barbie sales fell 14 percent in the most recently reported quarter. Worldwide sales have fallen every year since 2012. A study by BAV Consulting found that consumers think of the Barbie brand as being "less relevant" than most of the 3,500 brands BAV studied. BAV also found that consumers think of Barbie as being in the bottom third of all brands when it comes to social responsibility.  However, it is thought of as the top 2 percent when it comes to being traditional.

Some Girls Want Different Dolls

Mattel said it will still sell the original 11.5-inch Barbie. The new versions will begin arriving on U.S. store shelves in March and will roll out globally after that. They are available for preorder at shop.mattel.com, and will ship in February.

Quiana Agbai is an African-American mother of two. She has written about "the effects of dolls not looking like my 5-year-old daughter" on her website, www.harlemlovebirds.com. Agbai said Barbie's new look is "a step in the right direction." However, she noted that "there are brands already filling this need in greater detail." Agbai's husband's family is Nigerian, so she found a Nigerian princess doll for her daughter from a line called Queens of Africa. Agbai herself grew up playing with the American Girl doll Addy, whose story line involved escaping from slavery.

Some, however, saluted the new Barbie wholeheartedly.

New Barbie Is "Real Progress"

Trina Finton is a Hispanic mom from Simi Valley, California, who works in tech. She once bought herself an engineer Barbie from the doll's career line. Finton was "thrilled" to hear about Barbie's new looks, especially the curly hair. In the past, when she's taken her 3-year-old daughter to Target, "I avoid the Barbie aisle. I just don't want her to feel bad that she can't see a doll that looks like her."

Kelly Brownell was a Yale psychology professor in the 1990s. From a 1995 study, he concluded that young girls notice the body shapes of icons like Barbie and translate them into unhealthy images. Today, Brownell is a dean at Duke University. He said the new Barbie "represents real progress." The new Barbie is "beginning to correct the wildly unrealistic body shapes and sizes of earlier days."

Questions:

1.  "But body type "was only one of the criticisms," he said. "The other was the brand's relentless focus on appearance and fashion."

Which of the following words, if it replaced "relentless" in the sentence, would CHANGE the meaning of the sentence?

A. persistent

B. sustained

C. continuous

D. intermittent

2. What are the new features of Barbie?

3. Give one example of who does not think the change is good and why.

4. Do you think the new change of Barbie will attract more girls to play with her and why?

5. In your opinion, does the feature of a toy has any impact on the young generations?