The Barbie brand recently came under fire when Mattel posted a pic on Instagram to promote the Hulu documentary, Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie. While the new documentary seemed to be of interest to fans of the iconic doll, it was the accompanying picture that had folks talking.
“Movie night with my girls to watch the @Hulu premiere of the new @Barbie documentary, Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie!” the post's caption read.
It may have been movie night with the girls, but the black Barbie's hairstyle was the feature presentation!
People immediately flocked to social media to speak their piece about the hairstyle, which interpreted the faux side buzz cut trend with cornrows.
Some were here for the hairstyle!
Y’all hating on that black Barbie but her hair is bomb— mermaid princess (@mermaidhev) April 29, 2018
I don't see what the issue is, y'all say y'all want inclusion but want the Black dolls to have hair like the white ones? Black girls have different hair Barbie is embracing that, why can't you? https://t.co/Gb2eMcDvhJ— Cher Cropper (@ClevaSoldier) April 29, 2018
Others? Not so much. And they called out Barbie for what they believed to be offensive content.
Corn rows & a ratchet blonde weave ???????????? why y’all playing in black Barbie’s face ?? Sis looks like her hair girl has an emergency and had to go ????????♀️????????♀️????????♀️ https://t.co/ax9XT4hG5s— Joliette Mechele (@Un_Bothered_AF) April 30, 2018
See this is the #bs we talking about. Who in THEE HELL did black Barbie’s hair like this ???? Does anyone black work there @barbiestyle @barbie??? #ineedanswers #thisiswhywecantletitgo #barbie #blackbarbie #barbiestyle pic.twitter.com/Q60SNeIDH9— Ebony Brown (@EbonyBrownStyle) April 28, 2018
those “cornrows” and the blonde hair… what is she supposed to be a black and mild edition barbie?? snjdjsjdks i- pic.twitter.com/B95oQyZWhz— missjosébaby (@yuqis_twt) April 30, 2018
Yahoo Lifestyle reached out to Danielle Gray, of Style & Beauty Doctor to understand why the reaction to the doll was so divisive. Gray said that she believes it has to due with the fact that the representation of black women has been limited, and that the doll's critics felt that Mattel was putting black women into a box with the doll.
“I hate that so many black women were commenting and alluding to the notion that the black doll ‘didn’t belong’ with the white dolls who had sleek pulled back hair,” Gray said. “The hairstyle isn’t my style, but there are black women who wear their hair like that and to conclude that they ‘don’t belong’ is wrong to me.”
Gray also noted that Barbie's social media pages reflects many different hairstyles for their black dolls.
Kandi Burruss of Xscape and The Real Housewives of Atlanta, even chimed in to say that she is one of the black women Gray talked about, and that she used to have the doll's exact same hairstyle:
