Mattel announced that Barbie is getting a makeover last week. 33 new Barbie dolls are available for purchase through the website, in three new body types — petite, tall and curvy — and seven skin tones, 22 eye colors and 14 "face sculpts." Over at The Atlantic, Megan Garber says the move is smart business strategy on Mattel's part, given its past four years of sales declines. As the company's 2015 line of racially diverse dolls, called the Fashionistas, seemed to help, this latest move seems like a good bet. There are many different opinions about the Barbie franchise, some believe that what the Barbie brand represents needs to be thrown away, not just revamped.
Many toy companies and brands are becoming more inclusive, providing not only many skin colors and body types, but also wheelchairs and crutches. Some revels are more subtle than that of the new Barbies created, for example, recently LEGO simply placed a new character in the middle of a busy park scene, sitting in his wheelchair as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Rather than making things like this a big deal, I believe that acting like being inclusive was an option from the start makes more sense. Being inclusive should no be a big deal for a company, it should just be part of the company.
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