El fabricante de juguetes estadounidense Mattel lanzó un diverso set de colección de muñecas Barbie en conmemoración de los Juegos Olímpicos de Tokio 2020, incluyó dos rubias pero olvidó incluir a una representante de los asiática, a pesar de que Japón albergó las olimpiadas de este año.
The set was presented in February 2020, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was relaunched at the end of July with the aim of "empowering girls to participate in sports" and find "the athlete they carry inside."
There are five dolls on behalf of the new sports that were added to the Olympic program in Tokyo: sofol, climbing, karate, skateboard and surfing.
Barbies bring sports clothes and teams necessary to practice these sports, they also have the official tokyo2020 jackets and golden plastic medals that can be hung on the wrist neck.
Everything went very well during the presentation, but the absence of a doll in East Asia generated a wave of criticism, especially because the games were held in Japan.
Jenna Wong, an American of Chinese origin who lives in the United States, told Hong Kong South China Morning Post who found the omission offensive.
"Mattel making a Barbie collection for Tokyo's Olympic Games without including a Barbie that is from that part of the world, while including two blond Caucasian barbies on the set, it is simply disappointing in many ways," he said.
Wong added that during the coronavirus pandemic the hate crimes against Americans of Asian origin have increased, and the non -inclusion of a Barbie of Asian origin is another example of society's rejection of society to these people.
Drue Kataoka, a Japanese-American visual artist, wrote on Twitter: "Mattel makes Americans of Asian origin invisible while promoting his 'most diverse doll line so far'".
The creative added that Sunisa Lee, an Asian-American Station of Hmong ancestry, became the star of the Olympic Games after winning the full female gymnastics championship.
Criticized for a long time for their lack of diversity and for the production of molded dolls that adhere to white beauty standards, a decrease in sales figures in recent years forced Mattel to produce a more diverse set of Barbie dolls.
In 2015, it introduced new skin tones and hair textures in response to a 20 percent drop in sales between 2012 and 2014. In 2016, the brand presented three new body types: small, high and with curves.In 2019, he added a Barbie in a wheelchair.
Before the Olympic Games, a Barbie doll that commemorated Naomi Osaka's return to Tokyo's courts sold out a few minutes after his launch.
