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Mattel Launches Autistic Barbie Within Diversity And Inclusion Line 

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Mattel has officially launched its first autistic Barbie as the newest member of its diversity and inclusion line. The release of this new addition comes just six months after the company released its first doll with type 1 diabetes. These dolls are designed so that “more children see themselves in Barbie” and they have the chance to play with dolls that “reflect the world around them.”

Autism is a form of neurodivergence that influences how people experience and interact with people and the world. It varies greatly depending on the individual, and according to the World Health Organization, more than one child in a hundred is believed to be autistic. 

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The newest addition to Barbie was made in collaboration with the US charity the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, and is specifically designed to represent some of the ways in with children with autism might experience, process, and communicate with the world. 

The doll itself has eyes that gaze slightly to one side, representing how some people on the autism spectrum avoid direct eye contact. She also has fully bendable elbows and wrists to enable repetitive physical movements that help some people with autism process sensory information, also known as stimming. 

She also has a fidget spinner and noise-cancelling headphones to reduce sensory overload, both of which are in signature Barbie pink. She also comes with a tablet with symbol-based augmentative and alternative communication buttons to help with daily communication. 

The first Barbies were released in 1959, and up until 2019, none of them had disabilities. Now, however, there are Barbies that are blind, use wheelchairs, have Down syndrome, prosthetic limbs, vitiligo, and hearing aids. 

Jamie Cygielman, the global head of dolls at Mattel, stated that this addition is the company’s latest expansion to their commitment to representation and inclusion. 

“Barbie has always strived to reflect the world kids see and the possibilities they imagine, and we’re proud to introduce our first autistic Barbie as part of that ongoing work,” she said. 

“The doll helps to expand what inclusion looks like in the toy aisle and beyond because every child deserves to see themselves in Barbie.”

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“We engaged with the autistic community throughout the design process, always mindful that autism is experienced differently by every individual and is not always visible. The elements of this doll reflect how some people on the spectrum may experience and express the world, and we hope that by partnering with influential voices within the community, Barbie can continue to showcase a broader range of authentic experiences.”

Barbie has now joined the likes of brands Lego, which sells a variety of figures with non-visible disabilities, and Lottie which sells dolls with autism. 

Jolanta Lasota, the chief executive of Ambitious about Autism, stated: 

“Theoretically any Barbie can be reimagined as autistic, because autism doesn’t have one look. But representation is powerful and Barbie is an iconic toy, so we hope many autistic children feel pride at seeing some of their experiences reflected in this new doll.”

“We know some autistic young people are reluctant to use supports such as ear defenders and stim toys at school for fear of standing out, so the more we can normalise these types of visible markers the better.”

“With girls three times less likely than boys to be diagnosed with autism, this toy also shines a light on the experiences of autistic girls, who often slip under the radar.”

Author and founder of an online community for neurodivergent people, Ellie Middleton, stated that she’s hoping with this new release, Barbie can challenge some of the misconceptions around autism. 

“I never considered, and the people around me never considered, that I might be autistic, because we had never seen anyone that looked like me, acted like me, or had anything in common with me have that label assigned to them.”

“Having an autistic Barbie changes that. She is showing young girls that it is OK to be autistic, it is OK to be different, and it is OK to wear those differences with pride.”

Barbie Prices Set to Rise as Toy Manufacturing Giant Mattel Responds to U.S. Tariffs

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In response to escalating tariffs enacted under President Donald Trump’s administration, toy manufacturing giant Mattel has announced plans to raise prices for certain products sold in the United States. Simultaneously, car manufacturer Ford disclosed that tariffs could inflate its costs by approximately $1.5 billion this year.

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Mattel Family Barbie Penthouse On The Market In Los Angeles For $10 Million

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A 3,200-square-foot Century City residence formerly owned by Mattel founders Ruth and Eliot Handler has just been listed for $10 million. The property was initially acquired from the Handler’s in 2012 by developer and designer Nicole Sassaman for $3 million.

“Technically, I bought the home from the real Barbie, Barbara Handler Segal. Ruth and Elliot passed away. Her brother, Kenneth, was deceased as well. So everything was left to Barbara. But don’t call her ‘Barbie.’ If you call her ‘Barbie,’ she will correct you and say, ‘It’s Barbara.’ She is a lovely woman. But few people know that Ken and Barbie were the inspiration behind the iconic dolls,” Sassaman says of the penthouse.

Sassaman went on to explain how the original penthouse didn’t have a Mattel feel to it. “It felt like a 1960s time warp. The only thing in the home related to Barbie was the Barbie and Ken dolls in a glass case. I only wish that I had asked Barbara for them, but I didn’t have the heart. Basically we tore out all the electricity, the plumbing and the framing and the windows. We came down to nothing. The whole place was one room. We started all over again,” she said.

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Sassaman is no stranger to flipping famous properties and reselling them. She’s mainly known for buying and selling the Greta Garbo estate, which she claims helped her when it came to designing the Barbie Penthouse.

“One of my favorite properties that I flipped was a house that quite a few celebrities lived in, including Greta Garbo and Gloria Vanderbilt and Tab Hunter. The house got a lot of press, but when I sold it, the people largely bought it because Greta Garbo had lived there; it was called the Greta Garbo estate. And I thought, ‘Wow.’ If I ever buy a house or a property where someone famous has lived, I will pay respect to the iconic aspect and document everything from the beginning. So I took this approach with the Barbie penthouse. Also, I never got to redesign a penthouse, so this was such a fun opportunity to do something on a different scale,” she explains.

The house has an immaculate view of the Pacific Ocean and the Hollywood Sign.

“Every room you go into has something unexpected, whether it’s the library shelves that are actually a secret door or the little room with a loft. The penthouse has a lot of interesting things you don’t see every day.” The property has three bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms. The office space has a queen-sized bed loft as well as a 350-square-foot balcony.

“I am always so touched by the relationship people have with Barbie. I also had Barbie’s when I was a little girl. I loved Barbie. But the most fun thing for me when I was a child was building and designing Barbie’s houses.”

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Sassaman explained why now was the right time to sell after all the work and love they put into the property:

“When I finished the penthouse in the early days, I was offered $10 million from quite a famous hotelier. It was a terrific offer. But I just wasn’t ready to sell at that time. If I don’t sell it, I get to continue to live here. And all my friends are dying that I’m selling. But I just thought it was a good time to let go and a great lesson to teach my 15-year-old daughter not to get too attached to things. Nothing lasts forever, and it is good to move on and try something new, not get stuck in a certain thing in one place. Also, it’s important to share this home. It’s a beautiful place. I have created so many amazing memories here. Even last night, all my friends were over. Everyone wants to celebrate here as long as we have it, so it seems like every night is a party. But I think it’s time to pass the torch and let someone else enjoy it,” she says.

Scott Segall is a real estate agent who’s responsible for the Malibu Barbie beach house listing in California who recently spoke about how unique the Penthouse property was in comparison.

“If you’re going to buy your daughter a Barbie Penthouse, and that Barbie Penthouse was a toy, it would look like this. It’s the live version of what Barbie would have had. There’s always been this idea that Barbie likes the finer things in life and we are delivering that.”

“This penthouse is a little more understated and low-key, so it’s not in your face. And I think a lot of people with high profiles love that. Beyond that, the history of having the Handlers who invented Ken and Barbie having lived there gives it some sort of cache. Nicole has completely reimagined the space. And I think it’s always fun when you have some kind of history associated with a remarkable property,” he adds.

Real Estate Scam

The Tiny Detail That Led to a Million Dollar Real Estate Scam

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Many of us would like to believe we could spot a scam from afar, especially an email scam. There are only so many people that the Prince of Nigeria can give money to!

However a multinational fraud ring were able to swindle nearly $1 million out of the CEO of an unidentified Swiss company.

“S.K.” was purchasing some beachfront property in Belize when the fraud was committed, according to a criminal complaint that was unsealed recently.

The seller had been in discussions with S.K. with the buyer already paying a deposit on the $1,020,000 property. So when S.K. received a further email from the seller’s lawyers requesting the remaining $918,000 he wired the money across to the bank account he thought was also in Belize. However the money was sent to a Citizens Bank in Boston.

The complaint states, “The lengthy email which S.K. received included lawyerly verbiage that gave it the appearance it was from the attorney in Belize. The author included information about Belize-specific regulations on the purchase of property by a foreign company. The email included the standard confidentiality notice and legal disclaimers that are commonly part of emails from attorneys. Lastly, it included a professional signature block with the attorney’s name and contact information.”

It was when the real lawyer got in contact with S.K. to query why the money had not been sent across to them that the scam was discovered.

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An investigation revealed that the email from the “lawyer” had an extra “s” in the address, meaning the fake email was “deliberately created to deceive the recipient into believing he was communicating with the seller’s attorney.”

Recent data from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center shows that “CEO fraud” – or business email compromise – was responsible for a loss of over $26 billion for businesses during June 2016 and July 2019, and affected all 50 US states as well as nearly 180 countries.

In 2015 Christopher Sinclair – Mattel’s CEO – emailed an employee requesting $3 million be transferred to a new Chinese vendor. As their company policy demanded any transfers of money required approval by two upper-level managers the employee complied. However when mentioning the payment to Mr. Sinclair later he was unaware of the incident. And while the bank, police and FBI were promptly called it took a long time for the company to have their money returned.

Similarly, an unidentified US defense contractor was conned into sending sensitive military equipment worth millions of dollars to a gang of international con artists. Court filings show that some of the equipment was so top secret nobody was supposed to be aware it existed with the “highly sensitive” equipment was valued at $3.2 million.

Scammers usually create false email accounts with similar addresses to the legitimate accounts that they have hacked into and generally target employees who have access to the business’s accounts, high-level executives and sometimes celebrities.

Once the information has been removed from the hacked email accounts the scammers not only steal names, account details and information about the financial transaction, they also analyze the style and tone of the messages to ensure their fake email is plausible.

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They then email the buyer requesting the next payment be wired to a bank account they look after, with the money disappearing immediately.

Online crime has been around for many years however these scams have only been noticed in the last five years. An FBI supervisory special agent was quoted as saying, “There are always digital artifacts left behind in online scams – IP addresses used to illicitly access someone’s email, for instance – and this data is often used not only to track down individual suspects but also to make connections between schemes that may not otherwise appear to be linked.”

The stolen money from S.K. was transferred almost immediately to corporate accounts at JPMorgan Chase as well as Bank of America in Atlanta. A further $200,000 was then sent to banks in Nigeria and China while a suspect was spotted withdrawing thousands of dollars in cash at several JPMorgan Chase branches.

Investigators discovered the accounts in Atlanta had been opened by “Prince Okoli” who had also paid $10,000 into his own personal account. Surveillance photos at the Atlanta banks were compared to Okoli’s driving license and they realised they had a match. When pushed for a comment Andrew Wong, Okoli’s court-appointed lawyer – would not respond.

Although scammed consumers have limited liability with losses often covered by the financial companies involved, corporations sending money to incorrect recipients are not normally covered. When filing for Chapter 11 protection earlier this year, fashion brand Diesel USA cited cyber fraud losses as one of their reasons for bankruptcy.

There are recommendations from the FBI for companies to have protocols in place so that requests for large sums of money require strict verification, such as two-factor authentication.

They also recommend you always inspect your emails for incorrect or misspelled URLs, misspelled names or information that does not quite look right. Never give out information that could be used against you to new contacts without vetting them independently first.

Day of the dead doll

Dia De Los Muertos Barbie: Appreciation Or Appropriation?

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Dia De Los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, is a traditional Mexican holiday that is meant to honor and celebrate loved ones who have passed, but still live on in our hearts. According to CNN Travel, San Miguel’s Día De Los Muertos festivities are a four-day-long celebration of history and family, arts and culture, food and frolic referred to as La Calaca.

“On November 1, costumed revelers with skulls painted on their faces slowly snake through the cobblestone streets of San Miguel, ending at Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel, the 17th-century cathedral in the town’s main square. This ancient tradition — a mix of Aztec and Christian modalities — has been celebrated throughout Central America and Mexico for thousands of years.”

This year, famous toy company Mattel is celebrating by releasing a Day of the Dead Barbie. The collectible doll was released last Thursday and is already being sold across the internet by second party sellers due to the high demand. The doll, originally priced at $75, is meant to honor and appreciate the tradition that has been celebrated by so many. The doll herself (as seen in the image below) is set with traditional skull face painting, floral embroideries in her long flowing black dress, and monarch butterflies engulfing her. 

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Monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico around the same time as the festival every year. The influx of the species is meant to represent the souls of departed loved ones returning home to celebrate and be reunited with their families. Marigold flowers are often used to decorate homes during the holiday. 

The sacred nature of this holiday has caused Mattel to receive a lot of backlash, and has opened up the debate over whether “Day of the Dead Barbie” is working to appreciate, or appropriate Mexican tradition. “I think we have to be careful in the way that we portray our celebrations as Mexicans. It’s important that it is not a parody of the celebration, and more of a representation of Latinos,” José Higuera López, deputy director of the Mexican Studies Institute at Lehman College in New York, told The New York Times. However, the Mattel designer behind the new doll, Javier Meabe, also talked to The New York Times, and discussed how he is of Mexican heritage and wanted to ensure the new Barbie was respectful of his culture.

 “I grew up going to Mexico and I pulled a lot of that inspiration and things that I remember growing up. That is something that is very dear to my heart. I know how important it is to honor and respect family and friends that are no longer with us.”

Dia De Los Muertos will take place on November 1 and 2, in addition to citywide celebrations taking over the streets of Mexico, families set up altars meant to honor their loved ones who have passed. Altars include photographs, and personal memorabilia that embodies who the late relative of the individuals are. This could mean setting up their favorite foods, drinks, clothing items, music, etc. in an extravagant display. People have also left representations of human remains (mainly skeleton or skull related) with their specific items in order to be seen as a peace offering to welcome back the souls of their loved ones. 

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The holiday was also placed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list in 2008, and has seen an increase in visibility and popularity throughout recent years, as representations of the holiday have been infused into pop culture more. One of the greatest examples being Disney Pixar’s 2017 film Coco, which received worldwide recognition and praise for fully representing Mexican tradition, without appropriating or turning it into a spectacle.

Mattel received criticism mainly due to the fact that they’re just creating a product for profit, even if it was created by a Mexican individual who is familiar with the tradition. Selling a representation of a sacred holiday painted onto a doll that is mainly known for being a white, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, vision of European beauty standards, isn’t appreciation. Individuals felt like there was nothing truly indigenous about the dolls outfit or face paint, besides the fact that it just followed the basic elements to an otherwise complex holiday. 

If anything, the doll itself opens up the door for an important conversation. What we choose to be our own representations of our own cultures tradition. To some people, Day of the Dead Barbie is just a doll, to others it’s an appreciation/representation of a traditional holiday, and to others it’s a capitalist scheme to appropriate and sell another culture’s traditions for profit. The biggest take away individuals of all cultures should gain from this is the ability to at least understand and hear all sides of the argument, while taking into account their own privilege on the position. Listen to Mexican individuals and their thoughts on the doll, and know that at the end of the day it’s their culture and tradition for us to appreciate, not appropriate.