ha! aka, mattel does india

After writing the last post about young girls of color and which dolls they prefer, I was bothered by the fact that I couldn’t remember what the Indian Barbie doll I had when I was little looked like (maybe when I get home once the semester is done, I’ll look through all the closets in the house for it…).  So I did some research on Mattel’s history of releasing South Asia-related Barbie dolls, and found these two:

India Barbie - released in 1982, as a Special Edition, part of the ‘Dolls of the World – Asia’ line

India Barbie 2nd Edition, released in 1996, as part of the Collector Edition for the same ‘Dolls of the World’ line:

Is it just me, or is the 2nd Edition doll noticeably darker than the original?  I wonder what happened in those fourteen years to make Mattel want its doll to represent and appeal to a different, broader range of young South Asian girls (including me, because I think this is the one I had and might still have lying around somewhere)…  Also, the 2nd edition doll is presented in a much more noticeably “ethnic” context (the Taj Mahal, of course).

It’s too bad that Mattel didn’t get the costume/terminology right in either case:

• The 1982 edition is described as wearing a “three-piece sari, including a long rusty red skirt, matching wrap, both trimmed with golden thread, and golden halter-top.”  Uhh, sorry, but that’s not a sari… it’s a skirt, a halter top, and a shawl.  A sari is a looong singular piece of cloth wrapped around the body in different styles.  Great job, Mattel.
• The 1996 edition is definitely a lot better.  However, I’m still trying to wrap my head around how the doll wears both a “traditional costume from far away India” and a “modern, Indian sari.”  Huh?  As for the “simple hand ring,” I believe it’s called a ‘bangle.’

I’m not the only one debating the authenticity of Mattel’s descriptions about its ‘Dolls of the World.’  Nirali Magazine points us toward a discussion by several Indian-American writers/bloggers/professors about the Diwali Barbie Doll released last year as part of the ‘Dolls of the World – Festivals of the World’ line.

So at the same time that it explicitly exoticizes Indian Barbies (“far away India,” “exotic-style jewelry”) presumbably in order to differentiate them from its other products (and therefore make them more appealing to consumers), Mattel can’t seem to get the facts straight.  Ironically enough, I wonder how many of the company’s products are made in India.  And how young the workers in those factories may be.