Toy-maker Mattel is in dispute with a distant relative of Frida Kahlo over rights to a Barbie doll of the late Mexican artist released as part of the company’s Inspiring Women series.
Kahlo’s great-niece Mara de Anda Romeo issued a statement and asserted that Mattel does not have the rights to use the artist’s image.
The Barbie was unveiled on Twitter in a tweet that read, “With 86% of US moms worried about the type of role models their daughters are exposed to, we are committed to shining a light on empowering female role models in an effort to inspire more girls. Join us by sharing your role models using #MoreRoleModels. #IWD2018”
Pablo Sangri, a lawyer for de Anda Romeo said, “We will talk to them about regularising this situation, and by regularising I mean talking about the appearance of the doll, its characteristics, the history the doll should have to match what the artist really was.”
Critics have complained that the doll does not reflect Kahlo’s heavy, nearly conjoined eyebrows, and have also criticised that its costume does not accurately portray the elaborate Tehuana-style dresses the artist wore as well.
Barbie has often been slammed for promoting an unrealistic body image and consumerist lifestyle. Kahlo was a life-long communist who died in 1954 before the doll was introduced.
Mattel said in a statement, “The Frida Kahlo Corporation actively participated in the process of designing the doll, Mattel has its permission and a legal contract that grants it the rights to make a doll of the great Frida Kahlo.”
The corporation further said that it got the rights through Kahlo’s niece, Isolda Pinedo Kahlo, more than a decade ago and asserted that it “celebrates the ideological contributions of Frida Kahlo which have transcended the borders of art and which will influence new generations as a world icon through the Frida Kahlo Barbie, which conserves the essence of Barbie and the legacy of Frida Kahlo.”
