What Sports Illustrated’s Barbie Cover Really Says

I’m not sure who tricked Sports Illustrated into having Barbie appear in the pages of the 2014 Swimsuit Edition, but THANK YOU! For years, women have taken issue with magazines like SI that showcase women with bodies that are nearly unattainable for the average woman who is not a model and can’t fit in a 2-3 hour daily exercise routine on top of their duties as a mother, a professional, a wife and everything else. Add to it that many photos, if not all of these kinds of photos, get airbrushed, and well, you have a pretty good sense of the photo collection young girls try to emulate and what many young men expect women to look like.

Now comes the announcement that the 50th Anniversary SI Swimsuit Issue will have Barbie as one of the models! And, SI is putting Barbie alongside the other models as a peer. I swear it has to be a practical joke from inside the magazine by a very savvy, brilliant woman! Well done.

I think that someone needs to bring Mattel in on the joke. According to the AP, “As a legend herself, and under constant criticism about her body and how she looks, posing … gives Barbie … and her fellow legends an opportunity to own who they are,” said Lisa McKnight, Mattel’s senior vice president of marketing.”

She’s a doll, Ms. McKnight. But money makes people act crazy. Barbie is the company’s number one selling toy at just over one million a year in sales and sales are down by double digits.

There’s also a social media component with @Barbie tweeting using the #unapologetic hashtag (I predict a Twitter bloodbath.)

McKnight oddly announced,“Unapologetic” is a word that Mattel executives use internally, said McKnight, the senior vice president at Mattel. But she said this is the first time the company is “engaging in a conversation publicly,” said the AP.

Toy executives use “unapologetic” internally? Could that culture create a double digit drop in sales? Would you share that kind of “poke in the eye” culture with your customers?

According to NBC News, SI will run 1000 covers with Barbie and distribute them at the American International Toy Fair this week.

I think the person who tricked SI and Mattel into doing this campaign is #unapologetic. I’m #LMAO