Hammering stereotypes: GoldieBlox launches an anti-Barbie action figure

San Francisco – GoldieBlox, the toymaker that aims to encourage girls to go into engineering, has launched its first action figure with an advertisement that is critical of the princess culture perpetuated by traditional dolls.

The ad, which references Apple’s 1984 Mac ad, features a line of girls in pink princess costumes marching to the drone of a Big Sister figure repeating ‘You are beauty and beauty is perfection’ in a doll factory that makes Barbie-like figures. Then out of the line steps a girl dressed in overalls, with messy blonde hair and a tool belt. She runs to the doll-making machine and smashes it with her hammer. Out of the machine comes Goldie, a doll that has fully articulated joints and hands that grip. The doll set, GoldieBlox Zipline Action Figure, includes the doll and the pieces to create a 13-feet zip wire, which Goldie can then ride. 

Although GoldieBlox is no stranger to controversy – some argue that it is not helping gender stereotypes with a doll that is not ethnically diverse, with its freckles and blonde hair – it offers a small nod to Tiny Tot Feminism. The doll can do more than play house, and the set encourages girls to build something for their doll to use. The brand is creating a new category for girls’ toys, and while we hope to see different iterations of Goldie in the future, it is a step in the right direction.