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These Gender-Inclusive Dolls Will Make You Say, 'Barbie and Ken, Who?'
Mattel made history on Wednesday (September 25) when it released the first line of mass marketed gender-neutral dolls.
In our world, dolls are as limitless as the kids who play with them. Introducing #CreatableWorld, a doll line designed to keep labels out and invite everyone in. #AllWelcome
— MATTEL (@Mattel) September 25, 2019
Shop now: https://t.co/UyaYXb0BYf pic.twitter.com/k2tnPDCCiM
Each of the six dolls in the Creatable Worlds line, which sell for $29.99 each, arrive with short hair, a wig, clothing to fit any mood (like tutus and camo pants) and accessories. But their bodies are modeled on the children who will play with them: the 10 and under crowd.
“It’s important that kids of all different types can see themselves reflected in culture, in media and especially in the toys that they play with,” Kimberly Culmone, Mattel’s head of design for Barbie and fashion dolls, said in a video produced and tweeted by Time magazine.
And while some adults have posted some unkind messages about the dolls on social media, Time reports that the toy company tested it with 250 families in seven states, including 15 children who identify as trans, nonbinary or gender-fluid. “There were a couple of gender-creative kids who told us that they dreaded Christmas Day because they knew whatever they got under the Christmas tree, it wasn’t made for them,” Monica Dreger, head of consumer insights at Mattel, told Time. “This is the first doll that you can find under the tree and see is for them because it can be for anyone.”
Check out the collection here and watch a video about the line:
With a gender-neutral doll, Mattel hopes to break taboos and appeal to a generation that wants activism in its brands https://t.co/e3JfsaW7vR pic.twitter.com/KRxKS5jsHS
— TIME (@TIME) September 25, 2019