BALD BARBIE: Facebook Campaign Puts Pressure on Mattel

We’ve seen lots of different Barbie dolls over the years, but should there be a bald Barbie?

A Facebook Page petitioning Mattel to create a hairless version of its iconic doll has picked up some pretty significant steam over the last few weeks.

The campaign hopes to show young girls who’ve lost their hair due to chemotherapy, alopecia, or trichotillomania (obsessive hair-pulling) that being bald isn’t a bad thing. So far, the page has accumulated The page has garnered over 50,000 Likes.

The Facebook page, called “Beautiful and Bald Barbie! Let’s see if we can get it made“, was launched last month by friends Jane Bingham and Beckie Sypin after Bingham wrote a status update proposing a bald Barbie.

As the page explains:

We would like to see a Beautiful and Bald Barbie made to help young girls who suffer from hair loss due to cancer treatments, Alopecia or Trichotillomania. Also, for young girls who are having trouble coping with their mother’s hair loss from chemo. Many children have some difficulty accepting their mother, sister, aunt, grandparent or friend going from a long haired to a bald.

Sypin says she was really only hoping that a few hundred people would see the page, adding that she’s thrilled with the tremendous response so far.

“There’s some stuff on the market, like baby dolls, but there’s nothing like older kids. There’s no fashion doll,” Sypin says of the need for a bald Barbie.

The duo have approached Mattel with their idea, but received a form-letter-type response stating that the company doesn’t take unsolicited ideas for new dolls.  Still, Sypin will persist.  She says the team’s efforts won’t stop there.

“Many other companies make similar products, so we’d be happy to see any of them create this doll,” Sypin says.

The bald Barbie Facebook page has now morphed into a hub for girls and women who have lost their hair, with many posting pictures of themselves and encouraging one another.

What do you think?  Would a bald Barbie doll be a good idea?

Related articles

• Campaign to Create ‘Beautiful and Bald Barbie’ Heats Up on Social Networking Sites – Fox News (foxnews.com)
• Facebook Campaign for ‘Bald Barbie’ Gains Steam (mashable.com)
• Bald and beautiful…Barbie? (todayhealth.today.msnbc.msn.com)
• The Campaign to Make Barbie Bald [Dolls] (jezebel.com)