Three new body shapes for the world’s best-selling doll? Yep. One of them is seen mounted on the new cover of TIME — a much more curvier Barbie, with meat on her thighs and a jutting tummy and caboose. How’s that for a global symbol of American beauty?
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Yet, having to pick “out the terms petite, tall and curvy, and translating them into dozens of languages without causing offense,” as Evelyn Mazzocco, head of the Barbie brand, explained to TIME, means there is room for backfiring, at the expense of the company’s brand and legacy no less.
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Despite the risks that inevitably come with revamping such a company from the inside out, the organization recognizes it’s out-of-touch and not nearly as diverse as or at all representative of the country’s multiplicity.
One man with all the confidence in the world he’s taking a step in the right direction is Mattel President and COO, Richard Dickson. “Our brand represents female empowerment,” argues Dickson, “It’s about choices. Barbie had careers at a time when women were restricted to being just housewives.”
Read why Dickson thinks the “haters are going to hate” and so much more, here.