‘Giving Barbie a voice to be a positive influence for change is important to us,’ says Kim Culmone, Mattel senior vice president and head of design for fashion dolls
If Barbie had a CV, hers would shine like no other. Three years before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, she was an astronaut. In a time when men dominated boardrooms, she smashed the glass ceiling and became a CEO. And now, in 2023, she’s the main attraction in a film starring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken.
“Every generation has a deep connection to the brand. It doesn’t feel like she was a doll for your mother or grandmother,” says Kim. “She’s a blank canvas for storytelling, meaning she can be anything. That ability for the user to project their dreams onto her makes her an incredible canvas.” Embracing diversity Admittedly, this wasn’t the first time Barbie had worked to improve representation. In 1997, Mattel came out with Share a Smile Becky – Barbie’s first friend who used a wheelchair. However, the doll was hit by complaints that her wheelchair wouldn’t fit in the Barbie Dream House and was later discontinued. Later versions of Becky have included Sign Language “I Love You” Becky and Paralympic Becky.
Determined to improve representation, Kim and her Project Dawn team were keen to move the brand forward. “We had a system of play, for instance the Barbie Dream House or toy cars, that was built around Barbie being the same size, whether that was her clothes or accessories,” she says. Since then, Barbie has worked to create a more diverse toybox. In 2019, dolls reflecting permanent physical disabilities were introduced, and more recent additions include a transgender doll, a doll with vitiligo, a doll with Down’s syndrome and a doll with hearing aids, launched in the UK by Rose Ayling-Ellis.
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