芭比變鄰家女孩 推多體型多膚色版
Poor Barbie. She had plastic surgery to become more socially acceptable. But a lot of her critics still don’t like her.
可憐的芭比，通過整容來滿足世俗審美，但批評者們仍然不買賬。
Barbie’s manufacturer, Mattel, announced Thursday that the doll has three new body types – curvy, tall and petite. Barbie will also now come in seven skin tones, 22 eye colors and 24 hairstyles. Mattel spokeswoman Michelle Chidoni said the product is evolving to “offer more choices” to make “the line more reflective of the world girls see around them.”
芭比玩偶生產商“美泰公司”當地時間28日宣佈，芭比系列將增加三款新體型：豐滿芭比、高個芭比和嬌小芭比。芭比也將有7種膚色、22種眼球色以及24款不同髮型。美泰女發言人馬歇爾·辛多妮稱，公司願爲消費者“提供更多選擇”，讓芭比能“反映出全世界各種類型的女孩”。
Kris Macomber, who teaches sociology at Meredith College in Raleigh, N.C., says she’s “reluctant to celebrate Barbie’s new strategy because it doesn’t change the fact that Barbie dolls and other kinds of fashion dolls still over-emphasize female beauty. Why must we keep sending girls the message that being beautiful is so important?”
克里斯·麥康伯在北卡羅來納州首府羅利的梅瑞迪斯學院教授社會學課程。她表示，自己“無法認同芭比生產商的新策略，因爲它改變不了一個事實，那就是芭比等各種時尚玩偶過分強調了女性外表的重要性。爲什麼我們總在給女孩們灌輸‘美麗最重要’這種觀點呢？”
Josh Golin, the executive director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, said the changes are a testament to activists who for years have challenged Barbie’s “unrealistic and harmful body type.” But body type “was only one of the criticisms,” he said. “The other was the brand’s relentless focus on appearance and fashion.”
“讓兒童遠離商業”活動的執行總裁喬希·戈林表示，多年來，社會活動家們一直在說芭比的樣子“不符合現實、體型不健康”，而現在這種改變對這些活動家是個考驗。他表示，體型其實只是芭比此前“頻遭指責的一個方面”。“遭批的另一方面則是芭比過於強調外表和時尚。”
Kumea Shorter-Gooden, a co-author of Shifting: The Double Lives of Black Women in America, has said in the past that Barbie has a bigger impact on black girls struggling with messages about skin color and hair. She applauded Mattel “for diversifying the size and look of Barbie,” but noted that “European-American hair still prevails,” and that the dolls’ outfits still “convey a traditional and constraining gender norm about how girls and women should look.”
《轉變：美國黑人女性的雙重生活》一書的聯合作者古米·肖特-戈登曾表示，對於介意自己膚色和髮型的黑人女孩，芭比對她們的影響更大。她很讚賞美泰公司“將芭比體型和麪貌進一步多樣化”的做法，不過她也指出，“歐美髮式仍然佔主流”，芭比的服飾也仍然傳達出對女性外貌的性別定位，這種定位過於傳統，過於束縛人。
Barbie sales fell 14 percent in the most recently reported quarter, with worldwide sales falling every year since 2012.
自2012年起，芭比玩偶在全世界的銷量就年年下降。在最近的季報中，芭比銷量下降了14%。
Mattel said it will still sell the original 11.5-inch Barbie. The new versions will begin arriving on U.S. shelves in March.
美泰稱，公司還會繼續銷售11.5英寸的芭比。新款芭比將於今年3月登陸美國市場。
Some saluted the new Barbie. Trina Finton, a Hispanic mom from Simi Valley, Calif., who works in tech and once bought herself an engineer Barbie, was “thrilled” to hear about the new looks, especially the curly hair. In the past, when she’s taken her 3-year-old daughter to Target, “I avoid the Barbie aisle. I just don’t want her to feel bad that she can’t see a doll that looks like her.”
也有人很喜歡新款芭比。加州西米谷市的西班牙裔母親特里娜·芬頓表示，自己聽到這個消息“高興極了”，尤其喜歡新加入的捲髮造型。在科技行業工作的她曾給自己買過一個工程師芭比。她表示，自己過去帶3歲的女兒逛塔吉特百貨時，“總會繞開芭比貨架，因爲擔心女兒看到芭比都跟自己長得不一樣時會傷心。”
