Mattel has been recently accused of being racist because of a Mexican Barbie doll that they released. The Barbie doll is said to be based on the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead. The company is selling the Barbie doll at an extremely high price of 72 dollars. The Mexican American citizens call it cultural appropriation because they state that the company is trying to profit off their heritage. The company and the American consumers who love the Barbie doll brand disagree with the Mexican community’s assessment of the new doll. Mattel thinks that this Barbie doll is no different from any Barbie doll created based on real individuals. An example is a Barbie doll based on an American astronaut, a president, a marine sergeant, and even a Star Wars stormtrooper. None of these other brands had an objection to the dog being made in their likeness or made any damaging accusations.
The new Mexican-themed Barbie doll was based on an actual Mexican character called Catrina. Catrina is a character dedicated to the Day of Death created by a famous Mexican cartoonist named Jose Guadalupe Posada. Jose Guadalupe Posada was not offended by the creation of the Barbie doll; he thought that it paid respect to the famous Mexican Festival and Mexican culture in general. Mattel agrees with Mr. Posada that the Barbie doll is not disrespecting Mexican culture, but it is honoring their Day of the Dead tradition. The reason why Mattel has been receiving criticism behind the Barbie doll is not that they made it. The Mexican-Americans and other people think that the doll was made strictly to profit from it. Some people within the Mexican American community find it offensive for the company to benefit from their heritage and traditions.
A Mexican sociologist states that these big companies know that these holidays are very significant to Mexican Americans. So they want to capitalize momentarily on the emotions and the hereditary ties that Mexican Americans have to this tradition. The sociologists also point out that America, in general, is trying to capitalize off the Day of the Dead. The sociologists stated that back in 2017 Walt Disney created a film based on the tradition as well. If Walt Disney made a film based on the tradition, why weren’t they labeled as racist along with Mattel? Is it fair to let one company get away with allegedly exploiting their tradition and another company gets demonized and called a racist. After all, if American society benefits monetarily from Mexican traditions, every company should be demonized and called racist equal. Most of the criticism that the company Mattel is receiving is from Mexican Americans and Americans in academia. Individuals from the Mexican American community who are doll collectors and regular hard-working American citizens have no issue with the doll.
One doll collector was interviewed and she is of Mexican American descent. She states that she finds nothing wrong with the doll and pays homage to their traditions. Another doll collector and Barbie fan state that this is a way that this Mexican tradition can be spread throughout the world. There are mixed opinions regarding the doll, so this makes it unfair for the critics of Mattel to label the company as racist. As far as selling the doll for-profit, we live in America and here in America, we are a capitalistic society.
