Justice

Barbie Just Got a Big Makeover

January 28th 2016

It's been more than 50 years since Barbie first made her debut and not much about the iconic doll's figure has changed until today. For the first time, Mattel's Barbie doll is rolling out three new sizes — curvy, petite and tall.

For Mattel, these changes come as a way to get the public to fall back in love with the iconic doll. As diversity becomes more important to society, the toy manufacturer feared that the tall, slender, blonde, blue-eyed doll would be "out of touch" with the children of today.

The iconic makeover has already landed Barbie on the cover of TIME.

Related: One Little Boy and Barbie Just Shattered Gender Stereotypes

"We were seeing that Millennials are driven by social justice and attracted to brands with purpose and values, and they didn’t see Barbie in this category," Tania Missad, Mattel’s director of global brand insights, told the Telegraph.

The dolls will also appear with a variety of skin tones, facial features and hairstyles, which was first launched last year in Barbie's "Fashionistas" line. That same line also featured a boy in one its advertisement, a move that was celebrated for breaking gender stereotypes and showing that boys, too, can play with dolls. With the new designs, this will be the most diverse lineup that Mattel has given to Barbie since it was introduced in 1959, the Wall Street Journal reports.

And people are loving it.

Barbie's makeover

Barbie's sales have been successful throughout the years, bringing in billions of dollars. But in the last four quarters, the doll's revenue has dipped 14 percent to $904.2 million. And before that, Barbie sales dropped 20 percent from 2012 to 2014, Time reports. Moreover, Mattel's total sales fell 6.2 percent during that same period, the Wall Street Journal reports.

"There will be people who say we haven’t gone far enough, or people who ask what’s next, question our commitment to this,’ Missad told the Telegraph. "‘Barbie is a lightning rod for conversation, and of course there will be a backlash."

At the helm of Barbie's makeover is Mattel’s president and chief operating officer Richard Dickson, who was brought back to Mattel. "The company hopes that he could re-create Barbie’s last successful stretch earlier this decade," Wall Street Journal reports.

"Ultimately, haters are going to hate," Richard Dickson told Time magazine. "We want to make sure the Barbie lovers love us more—and perhaps changing the people who are negative to neutral. That would be nice."

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