Mattel pushes wellness, eco-consciousness and inclusiveness all in the one week
Talk about staying on-point. Toy giant Mattel has been bandying about all the big buzzwords this past week.
First it announced its range of dolls focused on diversity – including Barbies with bald heads, gold prosthetic limbs, and even vitiligo – a condition which sees patches of skin lose their usual colour.
As advertised on its website, Mattel has now declared Barbie “the most diverse doll line” on the market. In fact, Barbie’s Fashionista line now boasts 176 dolls with nine body types, 35 skin tones and 94 hairstyles.
That’s more looks than Benetton’s entire campaign throughout the early ’90s…
Then, earlier this week Mattel unveiled a new line of Barbie dolls which focus on wellness. Dubbed the ‘Barbie Wellness’ collection the set features a ‘meditation’ doll, who narrates activities through an app covering topics such as keeping calm, staying positive and settling down (and which mother doesn’t want to see their children settled down?).
The series also includes a doll that enjoys some well-earned self-care time at the spa, wearing a cosy toweling robe and armed with a rubber duck and, get this, bath bombs…
But the big clincher in the Barbie-Keeps-Up-With-Time headlines is that Mattel have confirmed they will aim to create 100% recycled and recyclable toys by the year 2030.
The toy-maker is setting its sights on ensuring that all of its products are made from and packaged in 100% recycled, recyclable or bio-based materials within the next ten years.
Already, a batch of sustainably-produced toys are making their way to store shelves, with plenty more to come in the months ahead.
Said Mattel’s chairman and CEO, Ynon Kreiz, to Green Biz online, “Our dedicated cross-functional team [are making] sustainability a key priority throughout the product and packaging design and production process. We look forward to expanding our efforts to all Mattel brands”.
Of course this would make all those plastic Barbies and Matchbox cars even more collectible in decades to come. So be sure you have a big box stacked with the stuff for when you’re ready to eBay and Gumtree the hell out of them come the start of 2030.
Antonino Tati
CREAM MAGAZINE 
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