Designing for everyone: What Mattel learned from Barbie, Becky and the built environment

I’m no Barbie expert. I grew up in the ’90s, so I saw the dolls everywhere. And in 2023—like millions—I watched Greta Gerwig turn this iconic toy into a film phenomenon and social commentary. Until last month, however, that was pretty much the extent of my knowledge about Mattel’s best-selling brand.

Then, in July, I came across an article about the release of a Barbie with type 1 diabetes. The doll has a continuous glucose monitor, an insulin pump and a polka-dot outfit in the global diabetes-awareness colours. She’s the newest addition to Barbie’s Fashionista line.

When the Fashionista line launched in 2009, its selling point was fashion-forward clothing and poseable dolls. However, by 2017, after slumping sales and years of criticism about Barbie’s effect on body image, Mattel added three body types, seven skin tones, 14 face moulds and 24 hairstyles into the playline. Four years later, it added Wheelchair Barbie and Barbie with a Prosthetic Leg, completing its rebrand of Fashionistas line as the company’s most diverse doll line. Today, it includes Barbies with Down Syndrome, hearing aids, alopecia, vitiligo, and vision loss—in addition to nine body types and 35 skin tones.

The Fashionistas line has been a huge success for Mattel. In 2019, Wheelchair Barbie was one of the top 10 best-selling dolls globally, a position she held for three years after her release. In 2020, Barbie with vitiligo was a top seller in the US, and that same year, Wheelchair Barbie accounted for one out of every four dolls sold in Great Britain.

This sales data, combined with consumer feedback, shows that diverse dolls, including those with disabilities, are not a niche novelty but a mainstream success that appeal to all children.

What makes this story so interesting, however, is that Mattel already knew that. Because Wheelchair Barbie actually wasn’t the company’s first wheelchair-using doll.

Meet Becky: Barbie’s original wheelchair-using friend

In 1997, Mattel released “Share a Smile Becky,” a wheelchair-using friend of Barbie who had cerebral palsy. It launched the doll to great fanfare, with disability advocates praising the company’s effort at inclusivity.

Becky was a massive hit. Six thousand dolls sold in the first two weeks, and many stores sold out entirely. Kids loved her.

Mattel seemed ready to capitalize on this success. The following year, it released “Becky, the school photographer”, shifting the focus from Becky’s disability to her hobby. The re-release suggests that Mattel intended to make Becky a regular part of the playline, rather than a special edition character. The company also released another version of Becky—the Paralympic champion—in honour of the Sydney Paralympic Games in 2000.

After 2000, however, Becky disappeared from the playline entirely. Mattel never issued an official statement as to why they discontinued Becky. In 2006, Mattel’s vice president of communications stated that Becky had been planned as a temporary addition to the 1997 line only. But the 1998 and 2000 releases suggest otherwise.

The prevailing theory, speculated by journalists and collectors alike, is that Becky literally didn’t fit into Barbie’s world.

Becky, Barbie, and the built environment

Shortly after Becky’s release, children discovered that her wheelchair didn’t fit through the doors of the Barbie Dreamhouse.  Its narrow elevator also wasn’t wheelchair accessible, and popular Barbie cars and jeeps likewise couldn’t accommodate the chair.

These issues came to light within a few weeks of Becky’s launch, and the doll began to ignite a public conversation about the built environment of play, with reporters asking whether having a character in a wheelchair is meaningful if the surrounding world isn’t built to include her?

Mattel stated that future designs would keep Becky and her wheelchair in mind. However, the incompatibility between her chair and flagship playsets would have required re-engineering multiple best-selling environments. No redesigns materialized, and within three years, Becky had been quietly discontinued.

In the years that followed Becky’s disappearance, writer and wheelchair user Karin Hitselberger wrote extensively and eloquently about the promise and disappointment of Becky:

“Becky’s absence matters [....] If you have a doll like Becky in a wheelchair, but you have to take her out of the wheelchair to really be able to play with her in the dream house or the Barbie car, it continually sends the message that Becky's wheelchair is the problem [...] Becky's discontinuance reflects how we are often taught to think about disability, in terms of fixing people rather than society.”

After more than 20 years, Mattel finally fixed the built environment. Following the release of Wheelchair Barbie, the company redesigned the Dreamhouse (which has a long and fascinating history of its own) in 2020, making it wheelchair accessible. For kiddos who have an earlier version of Dreamhouse, Mattel included a simple, cost-effective accommodation: Wheelchair Barbie comes with Dreamhouse compatible ramp. The company has also indicated that it will redesign other Barbie homes and vehicles to make them wheelchair accessible, too.

In 2020, the Dreamhouse was the top-selling toy in the US. It was also the top-selling toy in the UK. In 2021, it was the second best-selling toy in the US. While other factors, such as Covid-driven demand, the overall toy market and the release of any new Dreamhouse also affected these numbers, one thing is clear: Dreamhouse sales increased, which means that the addition of accessible spaces and elevators had no negative effect on Mattel’s revenues.

Furthermore, having more inclusive dolls has been good for the company’s business overall. From 2010 to 2015, Barbie sales dropped by a third after 30 years of strong sales. Many blamed the brand’s lack of diversity along with increased competition. After implementing more diverse dolls in 2017, Mattel had eight quarters of consecutive growth. In 2021 alone, the company sold 86 million dolls from the Barbie line, resulting in approximately US$1.7 billion. To put that in perspective, up until 2009, total Barbie sales had generated US$3 billion.

Beyond business: The most diverse doll line

Mattel made a mistake in discontinuing Becky. The company’s Fashionistas line—and the story of Becky—offers valuable lessons for businesses everywhere. Simple accommodations, as well as long-term investments, enabling individuals with disabilities to participate fully help businesses thrive. And when businesses keep diversity and inclusion in mind, they prosper.

Mattel has doubled down on this realization, rebranding Barbie as the “most diverse doll line,” with company representatives claiming that in a few years, people will no longer imagine a blonde-haired, blue-eyed doll when they hear the word “Barbie.”

Becky’s story also exposes how even well-meant inclusion can go awry when underrepresented groups don’t have a seat at the design table. Fortunately, Mattel’s approach to the Fashionistas line shows that the company won’t be making the same mistake twice. In designing these dolls, Mattel has consulted with the American Foundation for the Blind, dermatologists, the National Down Syndrome Society, Breakthrough T1D, racially diverse focus groups, Jordan Reeves and others to ensure that their details accurately reflect the lived experience of those they represent.

I’ve written before about how representation matters. Studies have shown that doll play influences how children see themselves, and having a doll that looks like you helps to grow self-esteem. All children—including the 240 million globally who live with a disability—want to see themselves reflected in their imaginary worlds of play. (I’ll leave this here in case you’d like some visual evidence).

Despite her complicated history—from a feminist icon to a negative role model to a champion of diversity—Barbie continues to play a major role in the lives of millions of children throughout the world. Or, as Hitselberger puts it, “Problematic or not, Barbie dolls matter because they often reflect the hopes and dreams of the little girls who play with them.”

More recent research has also shown that kids develop empathy and social processing skills through doll play—even when playing on their own. Dolls encourage them to create imaginary worlds, think about other people, and consider human interactions. The more those worlds reflect the world in which children will live, the more they’ll learn—both through imaginative play and asking important questions about what they discover.

The Fashionista dolls don’t just represent diversity—they affirm it. By weaving diversity, including disability, into a beloved toy line, Mattel has shifted the design of play to be more inclusive, and the results have shown that children and families respond—and businesses profit—when toys reflect the real world.