POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

SAN PEDRO CAMPUS

DOES MATTEL’S ICONIC

BARBIE NEEDS
A MAKEOVER?
Prepared by:
ALOMIA, JOHN PAULO B.
APOSTOLERO, MARIAN GAIL
BANTUG, ARIELLE ANN
BELEN, PAULA BERNADETH
BUSQUE, PERLYN
CUSIO, MARYLYN
ESCUETA, NEMARIE
GABAD, JECKO
HAINTO, JORELYN
LAJUM, KEYLA MARIE
LIBUNAO, ALLAN DALE
TIOPEZ, KEIRON LANCE
VIERNEZA, RANEL
YAMBAO, DANIEL LOUISE
 I. BACKGROUND
Barbie, one of the world's best-selling toys, is debated and condemned by academics, feminist
organizations, and popular media pundits for her vast spectrum of symbolism. Barbie's remark
is "girls can do anything," which implies that women can overcome any difficulty or make any
decision in life. The Barbie doll was conceived as a fashion craze in the shape of a flawless, well-
kept, attractive picture of a lady.

Children are exposed to the ideal lady image at a young age and desire to be, look, and act like
her. As a result, children grow up with this super feminine woman image in their heads, which
has a severe impact on children's socialization and gender roles due to its unrealistic body
image and immaculate lifestyle. As a result of this continuous issue, the company was obliged
to make significant alterations to Barbie's basic idea. Barbie's image and role were transformed
from that of an all-consuming, flawlessly beautiful lady to that of a successful career woman.

To correct the company's declining sales and address the issues the company received
particularly how they gatekeep Barbie's identity over the last few years (appearance,
intelligence, etc.), they unveiled three new body types: curvy, petite, and tall.

The new physical features of the Barbie doll, on the other hand, remain the same. The doll does
not depict an ideal portrayal of women's roles in society. Barbie's life continues in the same
lovely and attractive body, far away from the realities of life.

II. PROBLEM
Over the last few years, customers’ changing preferences and the ongoing discussion of racial
inequalities played a major role in the current trajectory and landscape of today’s toy industry.
Toy industry is getting diverse and certain social causes affects the way consumer behaves in
choosing what toys will serve as a good role model to children. Mattel, being one of the leading
toy companies in the world is no stranger to product diversification. Matter of fact, Mattel
unveiled three new body types for Barbie in 2015: curvaceous, petite, and tall, as well as new
body types for Ken. According to Mattel.com, the expanding Fashionista line of Barbies is
"designed to reflect the world girls see today," with 176 dolls with 9 body types, 35 skin tones,
and 94 hairstyles under the Barbie Fashionistas brand. Despite the company’s effort to address
the ongoing demand for product representation, they still received criticism for their “diversity”
being limited to skin color and body type. It creates confusion because this “diversity” does not
include one’s sexual orientation, gender identity and expression (SOGIE), and even realistic
representation that can touch the company’s current and future customers on a personal level.

III. CONSUMER INSIGHT

Consumers are getting more aware on breaking gender conventional presentation, roles,
stereotypes, and norms particularly the millennials and younger generations. These generations
are more open to the discussion of racial equality, wrestles with the gender structure by
blurring traditional distinctions between the sexes both in the workplace and at home,
operating on “the distinctive and historically unprecedented belief that there are no inherently
male or female roles in society.” These generations are the major players of the customers’
changing preferences on different industries and influence the current trajectory and landscape
of today’s toy industry.
 IV. TARGET MARKET

The target market of our recently developed Barbie and Ken are still identical with the
company’s target market which is Mothers/Parents with child/ren ages 3 – 12 years old who
are conscious of the choices about the toys their purchase.

SAMPLE CUSTOMER PERSONA

CONSUMER PERSONA A: Leanne, a mother of a 9-year-old introvert

child.

 Motivation - Stable finances; Child’s Progress and/or

Achievements.
 Personality – Working, supporting and loving mom; set
boundaries and household rules with an authoritative
parenting style.
 Hobbies & Interest - Loves to spend quality time with her
children by playing with her. Loves to watch cooking shows
and bake cookies for the family. Doing household chores and
grocery.
 Frustration - When the child disobeys or becomes stubborn.
Messy environment. Financial Instability.

CONSUMER PERSONA B: Anne, 9 years old, Primary student,

introvert.

 Motivation - Toys, Sweets, Playtime

 Personality - Cheerful, Playful, Bubbly, Loving
 Hobbies & Interest - Loves to watch cartoons in the morning.
Dancing, Singing, Drawing, Painting, Dress up and Role play,
Play dough, Doll and Character play
  Frustration - When parents do not allow them to play outside or play with their toys.
Early bedtime. Eating vegetables. When parents do not buy their favorite toys

V. BIG IDEA & EXECUTION

BIG IDEA: Fostering A More Inclusive Community Through Diversity

PRODUCT
GENERAL IDEA OF NEWLY Create dolls with realistic Make dolls that reflect
INTRODUCED BARBIE AND features and offer a variety different races and
KEN of choices that represent ethnicities. Incorporate
- Create barbie/ken different culture. elements like clothing and
dolls that reflect accessories, cultural
global diversity. reflections and so on that is
Also, each country authentically relatable to a
will have their specific race. This is to raise
own flagship awareness about cultural
barbie/ken. differences and in support of
- Each category will embracing cultural diversity.
have their own Ex:
ambassador/dress - Filipina doll wearing
to represent them baro’t saya.
and promote - Korean doll wearing
them. hanbok
- Japanese doll wearing
kimono
 Build Your Own Dolls will be initially dressed Predetermined clothes
Barbie/Ken in line in basic white shirts and defeat the purpose of
with the customer’s shorts then customers will be diversity because Barbie is
Sexual Orientation, allowed to choose their first wearing “dress and heels”
Gender Identity, and set (one top, one bottom, and Ken is wearing “shirt and
 Expression. one pair of shoes and one jeans”
accessory) of clothes based
on their liking and Men can wear pink and
preference. skirts, women can wear flats
This will also cater the and jeans, too.
LGBTQ+ communities’ style
preferences. At amusement parks, this is
conceivable. Simply include
your name, age,and a brief
description of your dream job
etc then that's what the doll
will project.

Will allow children to change

the way their dolls look. Dolls
will not be limited to a slim
body type forever, they can
change it if they want it
curvy, tall, short, black haired
etc.
 Barbie/Ken dolls in Barbie and Ken in various Barbie dolls, according to the
different body body shapes, breast sizes, studies, can decrease self-
shapes. body hair, etc. esteem and body satisfaction
due to their features. And at
some point, they established
a beauty standard similar to
the American appearance,
which dictates that you must
be blonde, slim, and look like
Barbie to be beautiful. One
 approach to remedy the
issue is to develop
overweight, toned, muscled,
and other dolls that
represent many definitions of
beauty.
 Bald Barbie/Ken Dolls will mirror the
because of cancer and appearance of people with
alopecia. alopecia and people with
cancer. By doing so, it will
empower children suffering
from the mentioned diseases
and educate other people to
see the beauty in them and
not limit their idea of beauty
to having long hair.
 Barbie/Ken with In the society we live in
damaged skin today, our idea of beautiful is
because of fire burn. very limited. We view
damaged skin either because
of fire burn or something as
for the lack of a better term
“dirty”. By offering
Barbie/Ken with fire burn, we
aim to help destigmatize all
the negative connotations
there is for people with this
skin damage.
 Barbie and Ken with This Barbie/Ken will mirror
amputated legs the appearance of people
 and/or arms because with amputated legs and/or
of war or congenital arms either because they’re
disorders. war veterans or because of
congenital disorders.
 Plus size Barbie and Barbie and Ken will have a The company already have a
Ken because of “realistic” approach to what plus – size barbie but it
several diseases. we considered as plus size. wasn’t as realistic as it should
By promoting body positivity, be. Though the initiative
we aim to encourage people came from a good place,
of certain size to accept their approach was some
themselves and view
themselves as attractive and
worthy of attention.

PROMOTION
Public Relations: 1. Sponsor events 1. To show that Mattel
1. Support certain related to certain supports certain
causes such as BLM, causes that involves causes and
Stop AAPI Hate etc. diversity conflicts movements in
2. Building my own 2. They can create this fighting discrimination
version of beauty and program that helps against racial and
dreams them to expand a sexual diversification.
message beyond 2. Through this seminar
beauty and self- programs, they can
acceptance and spread awareness
address diversified about beauty
definition of beauty. standards and how a
They can encourage lack of diversity can
parents to educate affect the ways
 their children about children view
self-esteem, themselves and
appearances, and others.
dreams
Branding: Like Nike, Mattel should be
Mattel as a company that firm and clear on what they
supports and promotes stand for so that parents will
diversification deem them as a good role
model for children
Philanthropic Responsibility: Donate some portion of sales
Donation of sales of each of each Barbie and Ken to
category of Barbie/Ken to various non-profit charities
different non - profit created to support them.
organization created to assist These charities are for people
them with what they need. with cancer, alopecia, fire
burns, amputated legs
and/or arms, medical issues
that can cause unhealthy
weight gain, and runaway
queer youth.
I am Me This application will help the
An application to create company to further its effort
Barbie/Ken that mirror to introduce newly designed
ourselves Barbie and Ken. This app will
enable our customers to
create Barbie and Ken that
mirror themselves by using
facial recognition. They can
customize everything from
top to bottom.
PEOPLE
Diversified Personnel Emphasize the presence of Having diversified personnel
different people in terms of has a lot of advantages as it
race, colors and sexuality in brings different talents and
stores or business at large to perspectives in the table. But
enhance and build company the most important reason to
culture and image. as why a diversified
workforce is needed is to
understand certain issues
that other group of people
do not grasp. This is so
common in the film industry
where majority of the actors
are black while the people
responsible for writing the
stories are white.

VI. MATTEL’S BRAND STORY

ANALYSIS OF MATTEL’S NEW BRAND STORY