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Sales for Mattel’s most popular doll are finally rising again.
The growth comes after a rough couple of years for Barbie, for which sales had been lagging. It seems consumers were finally sick of the impossibly tiny figure of the doll, which had been introduced in the Fifties. Barbie just wasn’t relevant anymore.
An inclusive, more realistic update for Barbie was certainly long overdue – remember when Demi Lovato asked for Barbies with cellulite? – and Mattel is finally giving the people what they want.
And it turns out, there really is a market for realistic dolls, as Barbie’s new best-seller is a brunette Latina with a “curvy” build, Mattel told the Huffington Post. Before the brand’s new Fashionista line, Totally Hair Barbie – the stereotypical blonde, tiny doll you’re probably picturing – had held the top spot since she was introduced in the Nineties.
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Mattel has seen their sales begin to rise again with the diverse, new collection, up seven percent in 2016 to a whopping $971.8 million. It’s the payoff for a process Mattel began about two years ago.
They revamped the Fashionista line, now offering Barbies in a range of skin colors and hair colors. They’ve also begun to sell Barbies with flat feet, as opposed to the old dolls whose feet were literally shaped like high heels.
After that line the company also released “body diversity” Barbies, featuring dolls that are curvy, tall and petite. New dolls set to be released include a tall African-American doll with an Afro, a red-headed petite doll with a girl power T-shirt and a blue-haired Barbie.
On Instagram, the company recently shared a post celebrating the diversity, with a graphic reading, “24 new dolls. 11 skin tones. 18 sculpts. 21 hair colors. 9 eye colors. 19 hairstyles.”
The new Barbies are receiving a lot of praise on Twitter, especially from parents who were tired of dolls that didn’t give their children a well-rounded depiction of the world.
Tania Llasera posed with a few of the new dolls on Twitter, posting, “In love with my Barbie Curvy! #Barbie is still up to date my ladies #diversity #evolution #bodylove #selflove #expobarbie #curvybarbie.”
Another Twitter user, @Spongefan12, tweeted: “I plan to buy some Curvy Barbie dolls. I seriously love seeing plus size dolls.”
Well, it took you long enough Barbie. But we’re glad you’re finally getting there.
