Summary
The SIS line is the brainchild of Stacey McBride a black woman and mother of two who felt like it was high time for Barbie to dip into diversity market again. This isn't the first time, Barbie's fist black friend, Julia was introduced in the 1970's, she was a nurse and basically indistinguishable from Barbie except that she was black. In the early 1990's Mattel came out with the "Shani" line of dolls, which was the first time the Barbie line tried to make black dolls distinct from the mainline Barbie. "Shani" dolls featured a trio of girlfriends all decked out in enough hoop earrings, sneakers and Kente cloth that they could've passed as extras on "A Diff 'rent World". This new line features three girls as well, teen friends living in Chicago who are of course depicted in the three convenient colors, one 'dark' one 'brown' and one 'yellow', and to top it off they are all supposedly created with broader noses and wider lips to better reflect African American girls and lift their self esteem.
The acronym stands for "So In Style" which characterizes this new line of dolls that are targeted at African American girls and their moms who are desperate to buy a Barbie doll but don't want to get all wrapped up in the racial and social implications of re-enforcing European standards of beauty.See the full content of this document
Extract
Black Barbie Strikes Back
Last week Mattel, makers of the Barbie line of dolls announced their newest addition to the pantheon of girls toys "S.I.S"! The acronym stands for "So In Style" which characterizes this new line of dolls that are targeted ...
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