Thinking of a good gift idea to give a young girl who is a fan of dolls? Forget Barbie, because there is a new doll in town. Say hello to Lammily!
You may remember back in 2013 when artist Nickolay Lamm decided to create image mock-ups of a doll that was more proportionately real than Barbie. The science behind his experiment concluded that there is no way in the world that Barbie’s proportions could ever be real.
He then took his findings one step further early in 2014, and created a prototype of a doll based on his scientific calculations. His idea was that he wanted to challenge the false perceptions of beauty that are forced on girls from a young age with dolls like Barbie, and offer something more realistic that wouldn’t contribute to body worries and self-loathing.
With many studies showing body images woes starting in girls and boys as young as 6, it’s doesn’t take a brain surgeon to see why trying to create a healthy alternative on the toy market is a good idea.
Nickolay launched a crowdfunding campaign, and was initially asking for $95,000 to create a line of dolls that he could sell. It’s such a testament to a product idea, when it far exceeds the asking price. He ended up raising over half a million dollars (nearly $560,000) from the nearly 14,000 backers, and already has a back order totaling up to $20,000 for the dolls.
In contrast to what Nickolay is doing (right in time for the holiday season-smart) Barbie made a bit of a blunder which left many parents with a bad taste in their mouths. Mattel released a book called ‘I can be a computer engineer’ in a bid to cash in on the huge STEM push that is happening for girls right now in the US, but missed the mark with their content.
Barbie has an idea to create a product that requires programming and coding. When asked how she will get it done, she replies “Brian and Steve will help me” rather than saying she will do it herself. The message reiterated that girls aren’t capable of doing the really tough stuff, that they have to rely on “the boys”.
Since the public online outcry, Mattel has pulled the book off Amazon, and made a public apology on their Facebook page, but also tried to justify it saying the book was released waaaaaay back in 2010 (probs when women had no idea how to code or program). Techcrunch reports that the move wasn’t exactly Barbie’s smartest, especially since there are many other products on the market that are portrayed better. According to a tweet which Techcrunch included in their article Jem from ‘Jem and the Holograms’ has been coding since 1985. Booyah! Also, Lisa Simpson ranted about the vapid portrayal of Barbie (aka, “malibu stacey”) in the show’s fifth season:
Need we say more about why the Lammily doll is so awesomely important? Not only is the doll based on realistic proportions, but the kit includes stickers that have acne, cellulite, stretch marks and scars. Nickolay molded the Lammily doll on the measurements of an average 19 year old woman from data take from the CDC.
His slogan is “Average is Beautiful” meaning that the concept of beauty should be accessible and define-able by all, not just one industry or company. This is an idea that is definitely worth raising half a million dollars for in the hopes that a young girl won’t grow up with an eating disorder thinking she has to force her body to look like something that isn’t even found in real life.
Nickolay didn’t want to create something good by his own ideals, he wanted it to be well received by the very girls who will play with Lammily. He filmed a group of second-graders from Pennsylvania playing with the doll to test their reactions, and what he saw made him emotional. The video is below, and it has already been viewed over 2 million times!
In the future he plans to increase the line, including dolls of different ethnicities starting in 2015. Until then, we’re happy to see an alternative version of beauty in the toy aisle.
2 thoughts on “Lammily: The Realistically-Proportioned Doll Set To Trounce Barbie’s Reign”