They're not doing this out of the goodness of their heart (obviously) but....Barbie has been on the decline for some time. This is just a misguided reaction to a downward trend.

Ethnically ambiguous and splendidly whorish Bratz dolls came on the scene years ago and almost obliterated Barbie. Mattel was able to crush them eventually via legal means but now it's Frozen that's killing them.

Little girls just aren't really into Barbie anymore. It's her look, it's outdated.

Yes people value prettiness but the look a girl has has got to be on trend for other girls to like it and buy it. So no matter how pretty Barbie is her look isn't "aspirational" anymore.

Mattel probably needs to come up with another doll or dolls altogether.

I just have to wonder why your (then general case) has to be so much like you. Why can't you have playmates including dolls that don't look so much like you.

(Just completed some diversity training at work)

Mmmm.... Fat Barbie!

The Former Banker,
I think it's possible that there are evolutionary ("in group") reasons for preferring a doll that looks like you.

I spoke at last year's big ev psych conference, in part, about the "Behavioral Immune System" (by ev psychologist Mark Schaller). This is the notion that, before somebody who may be carrying parasites we are immunologically unprepared for gets close enough to sneeze on us, we have psychological ways of keeping them away. (Eeeuw, outgroup icky.)

So we may have preferences for dolls and people who look like us. Does growing up with an adopted black brother change that? Maybe. I don't know if there's research on that. But kids who grow up with unrelated kids on a kibbutz, where they live together, seem to have the same lack of sexual interest in unrelated kids that kids in nuclear family environments develop for their own siblings (an incest preventative).

And PPen,
You're right. I read that about the Frozen doll.

I ... actually really like the new dolls. 8-year-old me would have wanted ALL OF THEM.

Barbie has looked the same for so long, and I can remember dying my Barbies' hair and cutting it and even trying to use a curling iron on it, just to make those look-alike femme-bots different from each other. If I could have gotten a blue-haired barbie, a black barbie, and Barbies of different sizes, I'd have put all of them on my Xmas list.

Just look at American Girl. I baby-sit girls through age 14 who play with those things. Some have multiple dolls (despite the fact that they are expensive AF) --that don't necessarily look like them. They like the variety and the ability to have different skin colors and hair colors in their toy collection.

... also, the original (tall, little waist, big hips) Barbie design isn't going anywhere. She's still available. Mattel is just trying out other options. As PPen says, it's a calculated business move.

I would have dyed Barbie's hair hot pink.

I used to try to do multi-colored streaks with food coloring. It did not work out well. I also used to try to give Barbie a goth make-over with black Sharpie -- I wish Bratz dolls had come along a bit sooner.

I was never really into dolls. My 2 yo has a couple but puts her stuffed bear in her stroller and not her dolls. She also likes playing with cars and trains.

I'm white, she's partially Hispanic but looks white. We live in a very Hispanic neighborhood. Of the few dolls she's had they have been various shades. I don't think she cares what color they are.

I specifically asked for Lester the ventriloquist doll when I was young. My parents got it for me. So my parents got me a black doll when I asked for it.

The average person is....average looking, as in not pleasing to the eye. Perhaps 25% are actually ugly (50% if you get a peek when they just get out of bed). Even rock stars and presidents are ugly (Lyndon Johnson, Nixon). Just don't assume children want ugly dolls.

As a former Barbie player and current Mom of one, I have to say it doesn't surprise me that Barbie sales are falling, the current crop of Barbies sucks.

Even this line... it's a neat idea. But they have something like 6 dolls in each body type, and they are all wearing modern, hip, clothes. I pretty much NEVER played modern, hip Barbie... it was all about fantasy for me. Victorian, Colonial, Medieval, Little House on the Prairie... with 6 dolls in each category you'd think you could have a mermaid, a fairy, a princess, an astronaut, a sorceress, etc.

To be honest, I haven't bought a lot of modern Barbies, I've gone online to find vintage ones because they're just more interesting.

This problem gets worse with the new body types because they aren't selling other clothes for them yet, and the crafty etsy people haven't made them yet so there's not enough stock out there to dress them and what there is out there is for the same type of game play.

The old movies with Barbie are nicer, too. The "Dream House" series is obnoxious, I show it to my kid, Barbie is a parody of her self, vapid, vain, rude. This is funny for older kids and for adults, but for young kids who imitate what they see not so much. The older Barbie movies are bland but sweet.

I toy with the idea of starting a toy company where you could do print out online stuff to make things for your dolls... maybe dress patterns on printable fabric, furniture on printable cardboard, etc. Creators could post theirs online and share, much like The Sims forums.

Barbie should also be jumping on the 3D printing bandwagon.

So the problems I see are:
- Not enough range of play with current crop of costumes and scenery
- Not getting into the world of online creation
- Movies too obnoxious

Kids want ugly dolls. Bratz, Monster High, they were hideous.

The average person is....average looking, as in not pleasing to the eye.
________________________________

Exactly. By definition, only a minority of people (even thin ones) are beautiful.

The following isn't really about dolls, but there's one mention of Barbies at the end. The rest is very good too.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/09/opinion/being-dishonest-about-ugliness.html?_r=0

By Julia Baird: "Being Dishonest About Ugliness"

Excerpt:

"...So how is a child to grapple with the savage social hierarchy of 'lookism' that usually begins in the playground, if adults are so clumsy about it? The advantage of beauty has been long established in social science; we know now that it’s not just employers, teachers, lovers and voters who favor the aesthetically gifted, but parents, too.

"We talk about body shape, size and weight, but rarely about distorted features. And we talk about plainness, but not faces that would make a surgeon’s fingers itch.

"Even in children’s literature, we imply ugliness is either transient or deserved. Hans Christian Andersen wrestled with rejection from his peers as a child, most probably because of his large nose, effeminate ways, beautiful singing voice and love of theater; 'The Ugly Duckling' is widely assumed to be the story of his own life. But the moral of that story was that a swan would emerge from the body of an outcast, and that you could not repress the nobility of a swan in a crowd of common ducks.

"What if you just stay a duck?..."

(snip)

One top-rated comment:

Kay
Stockholm

"I have always been heavy. By that I mean that in high school, I was hovering around size 12-14. You can imagine that as a high schooler, I was intensely sensitive about my weight.

"My mother said something to me at that high school age which I have carried with me ever since. 'You are pretty enough.' By that she meant that, while accepting that I was not the raving beauty I deeply wished to be, my looks would neither help nor materially hurt me. You may think such a statement sounds harsh, but it was not. It was thoughtful, truthful advice, and it was the lifeline I held onto in those bad times when I avoided looking in mirrors and thought I was far less than 'pretty enough' ".

"And, in the end, it was true. I have been successful both in love and professionally. (though, alas, I am now more than that youthful size 12-14) I probably would have been more successful if i were, indeed, more than just 'pretty enough', but I am OK with where I came out and I am thankful for that advice that stays with me still."

(end)

I think another problem is telling kids "you're awesome just as you are." Just as "beautiful" is an adjective that, by definition, only applies to a minority, so does "awesome." In other words, most people, regardless of age, are NOT awesome, they're just boring and ordinary, so kids need to learn not to be shocked when other kids refuse to make them the center of attention - not to mention their teachers. Parents are free to say "you'll always be beautiful/awesome to ME," but that's the limit.

In a nutshell, kids need to learn that yes, it IS worthwhile to make the effort to be well-groomed and well-mannered, at the very least, and if you're young and thin but still truly homely, your best bet for popularity is to act so cheerfully busy that you don't SEEM to have time to worry about whether you have a date for the weekend or not. The appearance of self-confidence is everything.

BTW, I do think the word "ugly" needs to be used as little as possible - to me, anyway, it implies the object of the word has a hostile personality, which is very often completely unfair. If needed, "plain" or "unattractive" should do just fine.

So . . . new barbies in a variety of sizes. Not a terrible idea exactly. But . . . all those fabulous vintage barbie clothes out there from my Mom & Aunt, plus other finds, plus all the Disney princess clothes that get swapped around interchangeably won't fit??? Um, NO. My kid likes the princesses and the weird zombie ones way better than the regular barbies anyway.

Up next we'll have an obese "Type 2 Diabetes Barbie" (complete with amputated limb, for that touch of realism) and a new obese "Heart Disease Ken" (complete with drooped mouth from his stroke). Because 'body acceptance'.

Lol: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/ff/a4/ef/ffa4ef28a73dbbfb6b6793aee53ed181.jpg

I am glad that Sofar said it first; I like these dolls. I love the diversity and the hip styling. I would totally have played with these dolls when I was younger. I had Barbies, but only bc my sister's friend gave me her old ones. As for there not being any clothes for them, well that's for now. Soon there will be plenty. I don't really see where there is an issue here. Don't like, don't buy.

As a former Barbie player and current Mom of one, I have to say it doesn't surprise me that Barbie sales are falling, the current crop of Barbies sucks.

Too much political correctness. So as not to drive girls into "female professions" Barbie must be available in every job there is. Do girls want Firefighter Barbie or Construction Worker Barbie?

And Office Barbie is, like someone pointed out, wearing high-end fashion items. Today, most folks go to work in business casual clothing. So Barbie's little more than a clothes horse.

With high-end fashion and permanent high heels, she's not an action figure to be played with in a variety of settings (like the old GI Joe), nor is she a doll with which one can mimic motherhood. She's a display, an item to collect and show off, a la Waylon Smithers.

Mattel has lost their audience because they forgot the object of a doll or action figure is play.

I'd have shot Barbie, any kind of Barbie, out of a "cannon."

Oh wait, my brothers and I did that with our G.I. Joes. Dropped G.I. Joe into a water pipe that we stood on end with a bunch of firecrackers under him. Sadly, He didn't fly out like we hoped. He just became all mangled. Bummer.