Reader Response Connie Ahlstrom ’79

I was so happy to see Explorer Barbie and to learn about the persistent and creative efforts of Nalini Nadkarni ’76 to create and distribute TreeTop Barbie and later to become a consultant for Mattel’s National Geographic line of STEAM (where’s the artist Barbie?) Barbies (“Explorer Barbie,” Beyond the Gates, April/May 2020). The featured Barbie showed an fantastic Barbie: gorgeous hair with grey highlights, a cool set of binoculars, skinny jeans tucked in Hunter-esque type boots, a snappy baby blue helmet, pink and purple rope tossed over her shoulder, a booklet or passport tucked into the pocket of her zippered, white work vest over a bright red shirt, and even a little bandana tied around her neck. Cool! What a great inspiration for young girls who still play with Barbie dolls. Curious, I went on the Barbie website to see the other amazing Barbie dolls in the STEAM /National Geographic collection. Wow, what a letdown. There actually is no “Explorer” Barbie on the Mattel website at all and nothing even remotely resembling the doll featured in BAM. The closest I found was a dreary-looking “Wildlife Conservationist” Barbie wearing a shapeless beige shirt over plain brown pants with green sneakers. No binoculars, boots, vest, rope, bandana or baby blue helmet and with only and a small notebook and a little plastic monkey for imaginative play options. The bouncy head of hair with the grey highlights has been replaced with a plain ponytail. The resulting doll would hardly be inspiring for any little girl and I guess BAM also found it too unappealing to even publish in it’s magazine.

 I don’t think BAM made it clear in the article that they were picturing a doll that is not part of the collaboration discussed in the article, is not for sale, and bears no resemblance to the dolls being sold as part of the collaboration with Nalini Nadkarni and National Geographic. This Barbie looks more like a drab vet or zoo tech than a groundbreaking TreeTop botanist—a result that is the exact opposite of the intention behind creating the Explorer Barbie in the first place. If being a “wildlife conservationist” looks this unappealing, no wonder little girls will continue to prefer imagining themselves as a fashion model or even a stylish mermaid.

I really think Mattel should work harder to make their STEAM dolls as compelling as their fashion dolls and there are plenty of talented women in the arts who could advise them on how to accomplish that.