EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Nov. 18 (UPI) ─ A collaboration between Italian fashion brand Moschino and Mattel’s popular Barbie toy challenged both sales records and gender roles by selling out within an hour and featuring the toy company’s first ever male spokesman.
The limited edition doll, which featured a Moschino T-shirt and various accessories, retailed for $150 and sold out within the first hour of its release.
The high-profile collaboration also garnered a significant amount of interest, as its accompanying ad campaign marked the first ever appearance of a boy in a Barbie ad. The young boy in the ad, seemingly dressed in the style of Moschino creative director Jeremy Scott, declares that the doll is “so fierce!”
Scott celebrated both the sales of the doll and the reception of the ad on his Instagram account.
“So happy about all the love and attention my Moschino Barbie commercial is getting,” he wrote about the ad. “I’m thrilled that it’s started a national discussion about gender neutrality for kids’ toys. I think we should let kids play and be happy, after all work is the play of childhood!”
The highly sought after doll is being resold on eBay for prices ranging from $400 to nearly $1,000.
The publicity and strong sales of the doll are positive signs for Mattel, which has been dealing with lackluster sales from both Barbie and its American Girl doll series in recent years.
