Barbie-maker markets new baby-doll set

Press, 28 August 1986, Page 10

Barbie-maker markets new baby-doll set

NZPA-AP Hawthorne, California The toy company that gave birth to the Barbie Doll is marketing a family set that can take a mother doll through a pregnancy and includes a newborn baby. Mattel’s marketing director, Kathy Harrison, emphasised yesterday that the mother was not Barbie in any way, shape or form. “Barbie, as we all know, has always been single, and always will be, and will never have a baby,” Ms Harrison said. Barbie had influenced the creation of the “Heart family newarrival” set, which includes three dolls — father, mother and baby, as well as accessories. For years little girls were writing in, wondering why Barbie could not have a baby, she said. “We do extensive research and child testing, and what we have found is that little girls pretend their dolls are pregnant and have babies. So this is a way for them to act out this fantasy. “This is strictly a fan-

tasy. “Mrs Heart is not shaped as if she were pregnant The fantasy is that she comes with a smock, and the smock is cut in such a way that when put over the doll’s dress, she appears to be pregnant. So it’s just pretence. “Once the child takes off the doll’s smock, the fantasy is that she’s had her infant and they play with the baby.” The Heart family newarrival set, which hit American toy stores last month, comes with flowers for father to give to mother in the hospital and a camera to take baby’s picture. Also included are a birth certificate, photo album, nappies, a tiny blanket, baby bottle, and a couple of toys dad can take to the hospital. The suggested retail price for the set is SUS2S ($51.80). The Hearts have no first names, unlike the Ken and Barbie dolls, named for the two children of Mattel’s founder, Elliot Handler. Barbie has been a teen-ager 27 years.