Thread regarding Mattel Inc. layoffs

Bring back bigger boobed Barbie and strip away all her careers. She's a classic icon and should be celebrated for all her blond s-xiness. That's what little girls want.

Barbie is just a tool to generate cash, but like other brands and companies that sought to crush competition (ie: TRU vs. all the stand alone toy retailers), she woke up one day to find that she had won...…...and lost everything. Without competition, brands stagnate and have no place in society. Barbie's "I can be anything" isn't original, nor has she really ever represented it. All the sophomoric dreck RD and LM have put out over the last 5 years have:

1) Failed from a PR and revenue generating standpoint

2) Been uninteresting to the target 3-6 year old girls

3) Been laughed at by 7-30 year old females

Leftist social justice warrior types will always see Barbie as problematic simply because they view the world through a lens in which every element of our society is symptomatic of a larger, pervasive unjust system.

The risk Mattel faces in their appempts to appeal to these apoplectically woke moms is that they risk pushing the diversity and inclusiveness too far. By taking away her controversial unrealistic elements, Barbie risks disappearing altogether.

She's either the iconic, unattainable figure, blonde and waif-like, with huge eyes, or she is – what, exactly? Make her real, and she ceases to exist. She becomes a brand, a category heading, like American Girl, Monster High, Bratz. You already see this happening to a certain degree. Margo Robbie will hopefully help reinforce the classic Barbie character if and when that movie is released.

Barbie is ok. She still has a place. But is she all that she once was even 10 years ago? No way. I agree that if she was launched today there would be anarchy. So she’ll just become smaller, but not ever go away. The career exploration has always been a good track, responsive to popular culture.

Yeah but to be fair, today people get outraged by things like the statement ‘Women Aren’t Men’ sooo...

This is so true. Mattel has systemically and toxically strengthened gender stereotypes for decades. It's an embarrassment, not a power brand. If Barbie was launched today people would be outraged.

Barbie is the victim of its own making. In its effort to be everything to everyone it’s become as generic as Kleenex.

Definition of trying too hard. By the way I’ve never heard a kid say that their Barbie is too skinny. Now fat moms on the other hand...

While I agree Barbie is not without controversy, in the larger landscape of toys for little girls with whatever marketing or media that is attached to it, haven’t you figured it out already?

Barbie is by far and away not the worst and actually attempts to tackle issues instead of just rolling out dolls that look like they belong in 1980’s Hollywood Blvd at night.

I have plenty to troll Mattel for, but this argument is mostly pointless. At the least there’s an effort of inclusion and general morals for parents to appreciate in Barbie. Check out some LOL Surprise marketing and tell me they didn’t dress up ten-ish year old girls like adults and sometimes a bit overboard if not inappropriate. Who can forget Bratz? Just because they had cartoonish heads doesn’t erase that they clearly had a street walker look to them.

Barbie isn’t the villain here. There are better reasons to be mad at her than this for Mattel employees.