- The American brand continues to inject a dose of diversity into its dolls, by releasing new models with disabilities or with original physical characteristics.
- Because consumers encourage toy manufacturers to design products that more closely represent the reality of the world.
- And the phenomenon is far from being a flash in the pan, since other brands have adopted the same strategy.
To combat stereotypes and the phenomena of exclusion, there is nothing like raising awareness among children from an early age. It is in this logic that the Mattel brand will launch new diversified and inclusive models. According to our information, a hairless Barbie, another vitiligo patient, a model wearing a golden prosthesis, a red Ken and another with long implanted hair will soon find their place on the shelves.
These dolls will join the 170 models of the Fashionistas range launched in 2015, which includes models of different skin tones and morphologies, but also other people with disabilities or with an out of the ordinary look, haircut or hair color. . A range sold internationally and whose goal is to offer models that look like real people. Because not everyone is blonde, with perfect body measurements or tall and bodybuilded.
Consumer demand
This desire for change was decided by the brand, but the latter was strongly encouraged by some consumers. A 12-year-old girl, Jordan Reeves, who has a prosthesis on her arm, had launched a petition a few years ago to have certain playful characters represented with a disability. His initiative had won over the American company, which made the Barbie wearing a golden prosthesis with the teenager.
“For the children concerned, the advantage of inclusive toys is being able to play with their handicap, to play with it or to play with it. In any case to feel recognized and not to have to hide, explains the child psychiatrist Stéphane Clerget. Visibility prior to self-acceptance requires in particular playful representations ”.
"Better acceptance of self and of the other"
But these toys also allow children to take a more open look at the world around them: “The interest is, for all children, to familiarize themselves with what constitutes an identity without summarizing it. With the key less fear, therefore a better acceptance of self and the other. In my office, where, for example, there are figurines of disabled people, children include them in their imaginary scenarios. Sometimes a character becomes secondarily disabled. Children are aware that this can happen and the game acts as anticipation to better eliminate any worry, ”explains Stéphane Clerget.
Regarding the Barbie without hair, one might think that it evokes a woman who lost her hair as a result of cancer. But not only: “It reproduces the hair trends spotted on catwalks and in the street. If a little girl loses her hair for any reason, she can recognize herself in the range, ”says the brand.
Other brands have started
It remains to be seen whether these models sell. “More than half of the dolls sold worldwide last year were models of difference. Among the ten bestsellers, seven incorporated diversity, including the doll on a wheelchair. And it was a rounder doll, with an Afro cut, that dominated the Fashionistas podium on a global scale, ”specifies Mattel.
And it seems that small consumers are increasingly looking for toys that look like them. Besides, Mattel's strategy is part of a more global movement, with other brands focusing on diversity. “Hasbro has a range of dolls called Baby alive, which offers models with different skin tones. And many brands have made an effort on the packaging of toys to erase the gender effect. A marketing strategy that aims to show that manufacturers evolve at the same time as society, ”observes Frédérique Tutt, world expert in the toy market at NPD. Lego and Playmobil have also been offering wheelchair figurines for a few years. The American doll "Lammily" was modeled on the dimensions of an average American girl of 19 years old; it is therefore round. Some examples that will certainly be emulated.
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