#normalbarbie

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Lammily by Karan Mahendroo

With the holiday season fast approaching, every parent wants to take the easy way out and get his or her kid a Barbie doll, but that bright pink box carries quite a bit more than the material girl. Along with the blonde bombshell comes that unrealistic, unhealthy, and unattainable ‘body image mindset’ that you really don’t want to instill in your child. Graphic designer and now toymaker Nickolay Lamm has the perfect answer for you, and her name is Lammily.

Photo courtesy of Nicoklay Lamm in The Washington Post

With the release of a doll making headlines anywhere from Buzzfeed to Businessweek, Lamm created what has been dubbed the ‘normal Barbie.’ Lammily is a brunette version of the infamous Barbie doll with the proportions of a 19-year-old woman’s body based on CDC data.

For sale beginning Wednesday November 19, the Lammily doll is already a huge success. For weeks Lamm has been getting emails from people across the country asking where they could buy his newest creation. Additionally, Time reported that after crowdfunding his creation, Lamm raised over $501,000, leaving his goal of $95,000 in the dust.

“To be honest, I knew it was either going to bomb or blow up, there was no in between,” Lamm said to Time. “I wanted to show that reality is cool, and a lot of toys make kids go into fantasy, but why don’t they show real life is cool? It’s not perfect, but it’s really all we have. And that’s awesome.”

While these $24.99 dolls might already seem to be a Christmas miracle for your little cousin, the newfound popularity for Lammily has Lamm taking his project a little farther.

Starting in January, Lammily will come with a wide array of stickers for young girls to make their doll even more ‘realistic.’ These stickers range from faux acne to stretch marks to freckles to cellulite to scrapes, bruises, and scars. There are even stickers that make the doll seem as if she is blushing.

Photo courtesy of Nickolay Lamm in The Huffington Post

While some think Lamm is going too far by giving these dolls these rather explicit features, Lamm is convinced his doll is revolutionary.  “Some people were like ‘Oh my God,’ as if I’m promoting domestic violence or something,” said Lamm, before assuring Time that that was far from his intention. There are many kids that are self-conscious about their scars and hide them to try to be more like the perfect ideals they see on TV, in movies, and in their other dolls. Lammily, though, aims to be just like them.

“Look, we all get boo boos and scratches. Life isn’t perfect, we all sometimes fall down but we get back up.” - Nickolay Lamm

After some criticism on Lammily’s new sticker package, the Huffington Post published that “an estimated 50 to 90 percent of women will develop stretch marks in their lifetime, and over 90 percent of women have cellulite on their bodies. Acne is also incredibly common, with an estimated 80 percent of people experiencing an outbreak between the ages of 11 and 30.”  These statistics aim to calm down critics who have expressed concern that Lammily is ‘too real’ for kids.  However this is not the case; Lammily embraces what it means to be ‘real’ and gives kids a new role model they can enjoy every day.

Photo courtesy of Nickolay Lamm in Time

The Washington Post relayed a video of 2nd graders reacting to Lammily, and it kind of makes your heart melt. They say that she looks like their big sister or their aunt or even themselves. They like that she looks “normal.” When comparing the traditional Barbie doll to Lammily, the kids thought Barbie would be a swimmer or a model or a “fashion star,” however Lammily was thought to be anything from a teacher to a dentist to a mom. It just shows how relatable this new toy is and how well Lamm is relating to his child audience as well as the adult audience, who are, for the most part, pleased that this new toy promotes a more healthy body image.

While ‘normal Ken’ stocked with armpit stains and a beer belly could potentially be on the way, Lammily is making waves as a ground-breaking and utterly beautiful new doll that gives young girls the perfect role model to aspire to be. 

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