Fisher-Price Backs LGBT Families

Via press release:

Fisher-Price® and Proud Parenting today announced the launch of the Proud Parenting LGBT Family Photo Gallery, presented by Fisher-Price®. The goal of the program is to increase the visibility of LGBT parents and to encourage interaction and support between LGBT parents, their friends and their allies.

The Proud Parenting LGBT Family Photo Gallery is a curated photo collection of LGBT parents with their families. It provides an authentic look into the proud lives of these modern families. New families will be featured throughout the summer across the Proud Parenting digital media outlets and will be promoted by Gay Ad Network on LGBT websites, social media and mobile apps.

"We are thrilled to partner with Proud Parenting for its first-ever program to increase the visibility of LBGT families," said Hailey Sullivan, Director of Marketing, Fisher-Price. "Fisher-Price is proud to help all parents give their children the best possible start in life." "We are excited to partner with Fisher-Price on the Proud Parenting LGBT Family Photo Gallery," said Jeff Bennett, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Proud Parenting. "With a long-standing history of diversity and inclusiveness, they are now leading the way for a new generation of families."

Follow the campaign on Instagram and Facebook. Memo to Franklin Graham and Brian Brown: Fisher-Price is owned by Mattel, a Fortune 500 company which grossed $6.5B in 2014. Other Mattel brands include Barbie, Hot Wheels, Matchbox, and American Girl.

BERLIN: Protesters At Barbie Dreamhouse

Yesterday German feminists picketed outside the newly-opened Barbie Dreamhouse attraction:

“This dream world suggests that women can’t be anything less than beautiful and slim,” said Franziska Sedlak from protest group Occupy Barbie Dreamhouse. “And life is not about being beautiful all the time.” The movement began in March when members of a youth group affiliated to Germany’s far-left party, die Linke, created an Occupy Barbie Dreamhouse Facebook page.

“Our protest is not directed towards little girls and their dreams,” member Michael Koschitzki said. “But, for us, this so-called Dreamhouse symbolizes the beauty craze and the discrimination of women in modern day life. It presents a cliché of the female role in society.” Demonstrators included a woman with bare breasts holding a burning cross with "life in plastic is not fantastic" written on her body.

Mattel Launches Drag Queen Barbie

This is not, surprisingly, from The Onion. Global Grind reports:

Mattel has announced plans to produce their first ever Drag Queen Barbie in collaboration with the New York City-based design duo The Blonds, who are responsible for dressing some of the biggest names around, including Katy Perry and Jennifer Lopez. The gender bender doll called ‘The Blonds Blond Diamond Barbie Doll’ doesn't come equipped with detachable lady parts or a Ken bump, it is simply a regular Barb that takes after the cross dressing Phillipe Blond of the NYC design duo, and we think it is pretty darn fab. The drag queen doll is dressed in a diamond encrusted mini dress with a floor sweeping faux fur coat (take note!) glitter pumps and over the top makeup. The doll is set to hit the shelves just in time for Christmas. Don't end up on Santa's naughty list, because this Barbie costs a pretty penny at $125.

Looks like regular Barbie to me. This guy agrees.

(Tipped by JMG reader Greg)

Today In Mildly Interesting Trivia

Mattel announced yesterday that they are changing the rules of Scrabble. Proper nouns such as place names will now be allowed.

Mattel said there would be no hard and fast rule over whether a proper noun was correct or not. A spokeswoman for the company said the use of proper nouns would "add a new dimension" to Scrabble and "introduce an element of popular culture into the game". She said: "This is one of a number of twists and challenges included that we believe existing fans will enjoy and will also enable younger fans and families to get involved." However, Mattel said it would not be doing away with the old rules altogether. It will continue to sell a board with the original rules.

Scrabble purists are already flooding Mattel's forums to complain. In other news, there are Scrabble purists.

Mattel Issues Mad Men Barbies

The New York Times reports:

The dolls are part of a premium-price collectors’ series for adults that Mattel calls the Barbie Fashion Model Collection. Although there have been Barbies and Kens based on other TV series, among them “I Love Lucy” and “The X-Files,” the dolls will be the first licensed line for that collection, Mattel says, with a suggested retail price of $74.95 each. Mattel is licensing rights to the characters from Lionsgate, the studio that produces “Mad Men” for the AMC cable channel. There will be 7,000 to 10,000 copies of each doll, to be sold in specialty stores and on two Web sites, amctv.com and barbiecollector.com. The characters to become dolls are Don Draper, the show’s leading man; his wife, Betty; his colleague at the Sterling Cooper agency, Roger Sterling; and Joan Holloway, the agency’s office manager who was Roger’s mistress.