In an historic move, the doll that has always been targeted to young girls has an advertisement featuring a little boy.
Mattel has joined forces with Italian fashion label Moschino, and their new Moschino Barbie commercial stars a young boy.
“Moschino Barbie is so fierce”, he says in the ad, playing with the fashion-focused dolls.
The young male has been styled to look like Moschino creative director Jeremy Scott, with a voluminous coiffed blond hairstyle matching the designer’s. He appears in the commercial alongside an ethnically diverse cast of girls.
In the past, Scott has called Barbie a muse, telling Style.com: “Like every girl and gay boy, I loved Barbie.”
The commercial looks to be a concerted effort by the two companies to tear down gender barriers and stereotypes, and it looks like customers are loving it!
The $150 collector’s edition debuted on November 9, and sold out in less than an hour.
Male Barbie fans have expressed their joy at the diverse ad. RuPaul’s Drag Race star Pandora Boxx commented on the Moschino Barbie Youtube video: “This almost made me cry! I used to play with my sister’s Barbies and felt such shame afterward. I’m so glad we can just let kids be kids. Thank you for this! Boys like dolls too!”
Words by: Sinead Corcoran
