Mattel has responded to a powerful Facebook campaign by announcing that the company will soon be putting completely Bald Barbie dolls into the hands of many sick children. The new doll - who will be introduced as a friend of Barbie's - is intended to help children coping with hair loss from medical treatments like chemotherapy.
From Mattel's Facebook Page-
"...next year we will be producing a fashion doll, that will be a friend of Barbie, which will include wigs, hats, scarves and other fashion accessories to provide girls with a traditional fashion play experience. For those girls who choose, the wigs and head coverings can be interchanged or completely removed. We will work with our longstanding partner, the Children’s Hospital Association, to donate and distribute the dolls exclusively to children’s hospitals directly reaching girls who are most affected by hair loss. A limited number of dolls and monetary donations will also be made to CureSearch for Children’s Cancer and the National Alopecia Areata Foundation."
The Facebook campaign - Beautiful and Bald Barbie - was started last December by two women encouraging the public to push Mattel to introduce a bald Barbie. Rebecca Sypin’s daughter lost her hair from treatments for leukemia, and Sypin’s friend, Jane Bingham, went bald during her battle with lymphoma.
The page has been liked by over 150,000 by people joining the cause, and thousands of messages have been written on the page’s wall demanding that Mattel create a bald Barbie.
The hairless doll will not be sold in stores, says Mattel - but as the company noted in their announcement, will be donated to hospitals treating children affected by hair loss throughout the U.S. and Canada.