The Dolls of the World Collection has been around since 1980. However, this week it has been receiving a lot of attention for playing up cultural stereotypes.
They must have missed Amazonia Barbie in 2009:
It seems Mattel’s 2012 “Mexico Barbie Doll” has been criticized for being offensive because the doll comes with a pink passport and Chihuahua:
Critics are claiming that the passport is touching on immigration issues. However, every doll from their new design concept comes with a passport and carries an animal Mattel feels represents the country.
‘Racist’ is being used a lot to describe these dolls. Racist? I’m not sure if I would go that far. They look cheap and poorly designed.
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Mattel seemed to have much higher quality dolls offered in the collection:
Ghanaian Barbie from the late 1990s
Peruvian baby-wearing Barbie, 1999
Northwest Coast Native American Barbie, 2000
What do you think? Is this collection of Barbie Dolls crude and offensive to cultures around the world? Or, is this just a nice way to let children have fun without being educational/culturally accurate?
