It appears that once again Facebook has helped mobilize a dignified cause. The social sharing platform served as a catalyst for a group founded by Jane Bingham and Beckie Sypin called “Beautiful and Bald Barbie! Let’s see if we can get it made,” which urged Mattel to create a bald Barbie doll to comfort children with cancer.
Bingham, a survivor of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, joined her friend Beckie Sypin, whose 12-year-old daughter lost all of her hair after chemotherapy, in launching the campaign on Facebook, which quickly gained thousands of followers. Sypin approached Mattel with the idea of a bald Barbie and the toy company initially said no, but later agreed to distribute the doll “exclusively to children’s hospitals and other hospitals treating children with cancer throughout the U.S. and Canada, directly reaching girls who are most affected by hair loss.”
According to ABCNews.com “the bald doll would include “hats, scarves and other fashion accessories to provide girls with a traditional fashion play experience. For those girls who choose, the wigs and head coverings can be interchanged or completely removed.” Mattel told ABCNews that it made the “decision not to sell these dolls at retail stores and profit from them, but rather more directly and immediately get these into the hands of children who can most benefit from a play experience with these dolls.”
Sypin and Bingham would like the bald Barbie doll to eventually be sold at retail stores, so that anyone affected by cancer can purchase one. MGA Entertainment, makers of “Bratz” and “Moxie Girlz” dolls, announced in February that it would be releasing six “True Hope” hairless dolls (available at Toys ‘R’ Us in June) and donating one dollar from every sale to City of Hope for cancer research (Zap2it.com).
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Photo courtesy of Beautiful and Bald Barbie! Let’s see if we can get it made/Facebook
