Sheila Adams Gardner, 41, a mother of three in Woodbridge, Virginia, praised the varying skin tones. She said when her daughter was 4, she became very self-conscious about being lighter than everyone else in her family.
“She has always had African-American dolls, but rarely dolls with skin like her own,” she said. “Often the lighter dolls were Hispanic or Indian. It was very heartwarming to look at a series of African-American Barbies and hear my daughter, now 11, exclaim, ‘She looks like me!’” Even Shorter-Gooden acknowledged the facial features “look like real black people.” Mattel doesn’t release sales figures. But Michelle Chidoni of Mattel said the dolls are resonating with girls of all colors and ages.
The line will be expanding next year with Rocawear clothing, new dolls Chandra and her little sister Zahara, and Darren, who will have a little brother he mentors.
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