Almost every little girl receives a Barbie doll at some point in their lives. The Mattel doll has ruled the fashion doll market for over 50 years, but not without controversy. One of the biggest issues with this doll is the unrealistic idea of body image Barbie gives impressionable young women, called “Barbie Syndrome” this is when young women feel the need to look and be like the dolls they played with. But this is beginning to change. Last year, graphic designer Nickolay Lamm created images of the “Normal Barbie”, aka “Lammily”, which took over the internet. This doll’s body shape is based on the averages of data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, and her motto is “Average is beautiful.”Lammily has average height and weight proportions, but also articulated wrists, knees, elbows and feet, and natural-looking makeup. Recently Lamm added more natural (and optional) features to his doll, including acne, cellulite, stretch marks, tattoos, and freckles-all removable. The doll also comes with a more realistic wardrobe, which includes jean shorts and sneakers.
According to research done by the University Central Hospital in Helsinki, Finland, if Barbie was a real person she would lack the 17-22% body fat a woman would need to menstruate. In the 1960s, several Barbie Dolls had a book included with them titled “How to Lose Weight” which specifically advised not eating. Another addition to that was a scale that came with the “Slumber Party Barbie”, who had a scale that was permanently set at 110 pounds (Barbie would have been 5’9’’, putting her 35 pounds underweight). In 1997 Mattel redesigned the doll’s waistline, claiming it would make the doll better suited to contemporary fashion designs.
In response to this and other claims about the doll’s delusive body, Mattel claims that the Barbie Doll was never meant to be a realistic representation of a young women’s body. Their reasons for her body shape include ease of playing, fitting of the doll’s clothing, and celebrating who she is, staying unapologetic.
When asked about the doll, Lamm said, “The message about body image targets parents of daughters. Many young girls do not care about body image, they just want a fun doll to play with. This initial campaign is aimed more towards parents, but the future depends on young girls wanting to play with Lammily. I spent lots of time and research to create a doll which daughters are going to love. She isn’t just a doll with typical body proportions, she’s a fun doll which just happens to have typical body proportions. And everything from the packaging, to future ad campaigns, to future online interactive worlds, will be designed to appeal to kids.”
The doll is now available online at https://lammily.com/, and only time will tell if this doll will take Barbie’s place inside young girls toy boxes.