Barbie might have begun her “career” as a swimsuit model, but after having over 150 careers since 1959, she’s now a changed woman. With a history of being criticized for contributing to low self-esteem in girls and portraying unrealistic body images, Barbie’s popularity has been falling for the past two years, with sales dropping a record 15% in the last quarter. Mattel tackled this issue this summer by introducing the online #Unapologetic campaign and the “Entrepreneur Barbie.” This Silicon Valley-based gal even has her own LinkedIn profile!

Image Source: Mattel

Mattel is trying to transform Barbie into an empowering role model, one that values her career and personality over materialism. To do this, the company also partnered with eight women entrepreneurs to create an online dialogue of inspiring young girls to be #unapologetic in pursuing their dreams via blog posts! Content includes career tips, their own entrepreneurial journey, and career-themed games.

As we enter an era of women entrepreneurship becoming more prominent, I believe Mattel has come up with a very clever and strategic campaign with #Unapologetic. The campaign’s entrepreneurial aspect helps address the issue of Barbie of being a gender stereotypical doll by encouraging girls to think about starting their own business and to embrace their creativity. Collaborating with existing women entrepreneurs is a great way to generate credibility for the campaign and it really exemplifies again the capability of influencers and the power of blogging. Just using the hashtag #unapologetic on Twitter is driving buzz and attention for the Barbie brand even outside of Mattel’s target audience. That being said, Mattel still has a lot of work to do to change parents’ minds about Barbie. This includes the children themselves, who could easily be immune to marketing tactics depending on their mood.