
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:
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?