Mattel, Inc. announced the Barbie® 2020 Campaign Team set to expose girls to public leadership roles and pique their interest in shaping the future.
The new career set includes four diverse dolls with roles that make a winning campaign, including candidate, campaign manager, fundraiser, and voter, to show girls the importance of a political team working together to win.
With seven runs for office since 1992, Barbie has a long history of showing girls they can and should be in office. Ahead of the 2020 election, the brand is launching this new doll set alongside a full marketing program aimed at the next generation of leaders by highlighting the importance of voting and taking a stand and showing girls how to run a campaign. The set highlights dolls of different ethnicities, including a Black candidate, to remind all girls they can lead from the polls to the podium.
Mattel has teamed up with She Should Run, a non-partisan non-profit that provides guidance and support to women considering a run for office. While we know there are barriers to getting girls in leadership roles, 66% of adults surveyed by She Should Run* observed an increased perception in leadership potential in children who role-play.
With a continued effort on determining how to foster girls’ leadership ambition, Barbie and She Should Run are directly addressing the top barriers to girls’ leadership, which are self-limiting beliefs that are in line with what the brand seeks to address through the Barbie Dream Gap Project.
In addition to being a longtime partner, She Should Run is a recipient of funds from the Barbie Dream Gap Project and has dedicated resources in part to Help Her Lead, a course designed to support young girls, particularly girls of color, in their pathway to political leadership by giving adult role models the resources and guidance to engage and inspire them early in life.
To effectively build political leadership ambition, role models can host intentional conversations about why it’s important to lead, demonstrate their own involvement through fundraising or volunteer efforts and role-play leadership activities, like giving a speech.
Additional educational resources, including play ballots and printable activities, prompts for girls to write their own campaign speeches and more will be available on Barbie.com/CampaignTeam. The Barbie Campaign Team, sold as a set, is available for $39.99 from major online retailers.
