Barbie is ready to embrace a modern, 21st Century career challenge as an entrepreneur, according to Mattel, the manufacturer of the iconic doll.
At Toy Fair this week, Mattel announced that Entrepreneur Barbie would be joining its roster in the brand’s I Can Be career line as its Career of the Year.
Entrepreneur Barbie sports a sleek pink shift dress and carries a tiny tablet and smartphone. Her hair is styled in a poofy but professional style.
The iconic fashion doll has held more than 150 jobs during her half-century reign, many of them glass ceiling breakers, long before the 2014 iteration.
Still, with nearly 8.6 million female business owners these days, it’s not a stretch that the newest career for women is one that Barbie forges herself.
Whatever it may be, Barbie can do it, even if she’s going through a midlife crisis of sorts. Doll sales peaked in the ’90s, and dipped 13 percent last year alone.
In recent years, toymakers in general (not just Barbie and Mattel) have been under increased pressure to offer a wider range of toy options for girls.
As these pressures have mounted in the past five years, Barbie’s become an architect, a computer engineer and a news anchor, even a detective.
There’s even a Human Barbie, though that’s neither here nor there.
She’s also undergone criticism for her impossible-to-achieve figure, leading to many artists’ renditions of what she should really look like (below).
