Mattel has launched its first Barbie doll with type 1 diabetes (T1D) in a bid to foster a greater sense of inclusion and empathy among children, a company vice president said on Tuesday.
The new Barbie has been designed in partnership with the global type 1 diabetes not-for-profit Breakthrough T1D.
“Introducing a Barbie doll with type 1 diabetes marks an important step in our commitment to inclusivity and representation,” said Krista Berger, senior vice president of Barbie and global head of dolls. “Barbie helps shape children’s early perceptions of the world, and by reflecting medical conditions like T1D, we ensure more kids can see themselves in the stories they imagine and the dolls they love.”
Photo: Reuters
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition where the body attacks and destroys the cells in the pancreas that make insulin. It is often diagnosed in childhood, and people with the condition have to monitor their glucose levels and take insulin every day.
The new doll wears a CGM — a small device that continuously measures a person’s blood sugar — on her arm to help manage her condition.
To keep her CGM in place, she uses a pink heart-shaped medical tape along with a phone that displays an app to help track her blood sugar levels throughout the day.
She also has an insulin pump, a small, wearable medical device that allows for automated insulin dosing as needed, attached to her waist.
The doll is wearing a blue polka dot top and matching skirt inspired by global diabetes awareness symbols.
Alongside the new model, the company also launched a bespoke Lila Moss doll, complete with the CGM paraphernalia.
Moss, daughter of supermodel Kate Moss, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was 12 years old.
For several years Mattel has aimed to diversify its models, particularly those of the iconic doll Barbie, after having offered for decades — barring a few exceptions — a young, lithe blonde white woman with high heels.
Since 2016 the California company notably launched “curvy,” “petite” and “tall” versions of Barbie.
In the sweltering streets of Jakarta, buskers carry towering, hollow puppets and pass around a bucket for donations. Now, they fear becoming outlaws. City authorities said they would crack down on use of the sacred ondel-ondel puppets, which can stand as tall as a truck, and they are drafting legislation to remove what they view as a street nuisance. Performances featuring the puppets — originally used by Jakarta’s Betawi people to ward off evil spirits — would be allowed only at set events. The ban could leave many ondel-ondel buskers in Jakarta jobless. “I am confused and anxious. I fear getting raided or even
POLITICAL PATRIARCHS: Recent clashes between Thailand and Cambodia are driven by an escalating feud between rival political families, analysts say The dispute over Thailand and Cambodia’s contested border, which dates back more than a century to disagreements over colonial-era maps, has broken into conflict before. However, the most recent clashes, which erupted on Thursday, have been fueled by another factor: a bitter feud between two powerful political patriarchs. Cambodian Senate President and former prime minister Hun Sen, 72, and former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, 76, were once such close friends that they reportedly called one another brothers. Hun Sen has, over the years, supported Thaksin’s family during their long-running power struggle with Thailand’s military. Thaksin and his sister Yingluck stayed
Kemal Ozdemir looked up at the bare peaks of Mount Cilo in Turkey’s Kurdish majority southeast. “There were glaciers 10 years ago,” he recalled under a cloudless sky. A mountain guide for 15 years, Ozdemir then turned toward the torrent carrying dozens of blocks of ice below a slope covered with grass and rocks — a sign of glacier loss being exacerbated by global warming. “You can see that there are quite a few pieces of glacier in the water right now ... the reason why the waterfalls flow lushly actually shows us how fast the ice is melting,” he said.
RESTRUCTURE: Myanmar’s military has ended emergency rule and announced plans for elections in December, but critics said the move aims to entrench junta control Myanmar’s military government announced on Thursday that it was ending the state of emergency declared after it seized power in 2021 and would restructure administrative bodies to prepare for the new election at the end of the year. However, the polls planned for an unspecified date in December face serious obstacles, including a civil war raging over most of the country and pledges by opponents of the military rule to derail the election because they believe it can be neither free nor fair. Under the restructuring, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is giving up two posts, but would stay at the
RSS