PARENTS REACT TO NEW BARBIE DOLL COMMERCIAL

♪ (industrial music) ♪

(girls chattering)

- Oh, cute!

- (girl) It's important
for Barbies to look different.

You know, like the real
people in the world.

- Oh man. Here we go.

- (girl) You know, like
the real people in the world.

- Yeah, of course. Amen, sista.

- (Culmone) When I look at the line now,

one is taller than original Barbie,
one is more petite.

- Oh, look at all those diverse Barbies.

- (Culmone) One is taller
than original Barbie,

one is more petite, and one is curvier.

- (girl) I like 'em 'cause
this one looks like me

and this one looks like my mom.

- (girl) This one looks like
my friend Non. Her name is Non.

- That's so cute.

- (Missad) It doesn't matter
what shape you come in.

- That's right. Finally.

- (Missad) Anything is possible.

- Yeah, that was not around
when I was a girl.

- (man) ...looks like, because
this is what the world looks like.

- Good old Barbie, huh?

- (girl) It's kind of cool
to have people look different.

- That's a great ad. That's a great ad.

- "Imagination comes
in all shapes and sizes."

I like that!

- My god, brings tears to my eyes.

- Wow, man. That was heartfelt, man.

- It's about time, 2016 now,
that they're saying,

"Okay, well, let's make the dolls

look more like what the girls look like

than trying to make
girls look like a doll."

♪ (industrial music) ♪

- (Finebros) Okay, so had you
heard about this before today?

- No, I hadn't heard about that.

- No, I have not. This is
the first time I've seen this.

- I did. I read an article about it.

- I have jumped the Barbie campaign:

diversity within the Barbie world.

- Couple days ago,
I actually read about it

and I was very, very excited.

- The new Barbie's
all over my Facebook feed,

all over the Twitter,
all over the Internets.

Everyone's all excited for Barbie.

- (Finebros) Did you ever have issues
with the way Barbie looks?

- Not when I was growing up.

I didn't think anything of it
until I was an adult.

- I knew it wasn't reality, you know,

'cause it's so many
different shapes and sizes

and colors of women.

- I was the one that cut Barbie's hair,

you know, popped her head off.

Like, it just felt like when she
was sort of the embodiment

of everything I wasn't.

- Absolutely. I've always
wanted to look like Barbie.

I've colored my hair. I've lost weight.

I wore short clothes. I did it all.

- (Finebros) Even though
Barbie is popular today,

they were even more popular
when you were younger.

Did you have Barbies around
your house growing up?

- Uh, my sisters did have Barbies, yes.

- My sister definitely had Barbies.

Yeah, she had a big dollhouse and the car.

- I only had one sister,
and she's 10 years older than me.

So we didn't really
trip off of it too much,

because it didn't represent us.

- Oh yeah. I had a few of them.

- Oh yeah. I mean, it was
like the go-to gift for a girl.

But you know, Barbie was
always that little cheerleader

perfect hourglass figure
that doesn't exist in real life.

And she just seemed like somebody
I would never hang out with.

So I would have Barbies
piled up in my closet

from various holidays.

Was never my jam.

- When I was younger,
I had a collection of Barbies.

The Barbies did not look like me.

And in my mind, I didn't realize that

it was kind of molding
my perception of what beauty was.

So when I had my daughter
several years later,

I would only buy her dolls
that looked more like her.

I wanted her to not feel the way I did.

- (Finebros) What would you say
the biggest difference is

between the dolls that existed
when you were younger

versus these new Barbies?

- Well, that they come in all shapes now.

Like they're petite or a little more

different colors.

- The diversity, of course.

One was curvier than the old Barbie was.

- They make a personal connection to them

rather than just, "Okay,
this is the stereotype."

- There's options.
Like, there was no option.

The option was you had Barbie

or you had her little sister,
Skipper, or whatever her name was,

and they're both thin,

and they're both white,
and they're both blonde.

Like, I thought that's what
I was supposed to be.

- (Finebros) Well, this new line
of dolls is the result

of the Barbie being criticized
for a number of years

for producing what people consider

an anatomically impossible
portrayal of women

and being a bad example for young people.

Do you remember people
always having problems

with the way she looks,

or would you say
this is a more recent thing?

- I think it's more of a recent thing.

- It wasn't really talked about
when I was a kid.

So I made an issue for myself

before it could be
an issue for my daughter.

- I think it's been
throughout the history,

but I think nowadays,

because there's a lot of competitions
from other companies,

that Mattel is saying,
"Okay, you know what?

We have to address the issue."

- People talked about it,

that Barbie had an
impossible figure back then.

But with this new political-correct age,

it's become more of an actual issue,

where people are actually
putting pressure on Barbie

to make these changes.

- I think it's been an issue
for at least the last 10, 12 years.

Can be detrimental
to a young girl's psyche.

It's definitely a long time
coming for that change,

'cause they coulda did this 20 years ago,

and it still wouldn't
have been soon enough.

(clang!)
- (Finebros) Truth!

- (Finebros) So have your children
ever played with Barbie dolls?

- Um, she played
with them, not like I did.

She was more like a stuffed
animal kind of person.

- He has not, no.

- She didn't have Barbies at all
when she was growing up.

She wasn't interested.

- I don't know that I ever
bought my daughter a Barbie doll.

I, just as a feminist in general,

I just did not really
understand the messaging.

- I haven't personally bought them one,

'cause to me it wasn't really
that positive of an image.

Barbie, in its original form,

could've had a real negative effect
on her growing up biracial.

- (Finebros) What do you think
about the idea of your child

being able to play with a Barbie doll
that has different looks?

- I think it's very cool.
I mean, I'm really for the idea.

- I think it'd be great.

My daughters could key
on whatever interests them,

rather than just choosing
one specific look.

- Why not have a Barbie doll
that looks like you?

Why not have a Barbie Doll that
looks like your friend next door

so you can have adventures

of you and your friend next door playing.

- It teaches them about culture.

It teaches them about different
parts of the world, you know?

It's just, like, beautiful.

- If Barbie's still set up
to be the perfect woman

and she's curvier or different
race or different religion,

then that's gonna give a visual
for little boys and little girls

to see that perfection
starts with imperfections.

- I remember her saying that

there was no one that looked like her

in the stores or on TV either.

As she grew, she said,
"Oh, but look at that little girl Dora.

She looks like me. She talks like me."

I'ma start crying. (laughs)

"And her family looks like mine."
I didn't have that.

This branch-off that
they're doing for Barbie

is important for that exact reason.

- (Finebros) Finally, does
this new-look Barbie doll

signal a change in norms of society,

or do you think this won't really
make that kind of an impact?

- I hope it has an impact. I really do.

- I think that it's a marketing
ploy on Barbie's point

for the most part, but it's a good
change, so why not embrace it?

- Kids are small, man.

You don't know what
that little kid's say--

like, when she said that,

"Yeah, I think it's good
to be different," and stuff,

that little girl, she might
be our president one day.

- It's probably not going
to make an impact for me

or even for my daughter.

But just like they didn't think

my Barbie made an impact on me, it did.

They shouldn't have
to go out of their way.

It shouldn't be a specialty item

to have something that looks like you.

- Unfortunately, not a lot of companies

do comprehend how much
change it does, but it does.

That's why I think a lot of people
are going to YouTube channel,

because they see real people.

- Thanks so much for watching,
and we'll see you soon.

- Like what you saw?
Hit that Subscribe button.

We're always taking suggestions,
so leave a comment

and let us know what
you want us to react to next.

- Bye!

- Goodbye! Until next time!