Día de Muertos Barbie Is Back – and She’s not Alone

Back in 2019, and just in time for Día de Muertos (or what Americans dare call “Mexican Halloween”) Mattel came up with a signature Barbie Día de Muertos which – according to a very long press release – featured a “long, embroidered dress decorated with flowers and butterflies [and] a crown with the iconic monarch butterflies and the cempasúchitl flower to honor, in every way, the symbols and offerings of this emblematic Mexican tradition.”

Today, as if 2024 hadn’t brought so many calamities to this world, she is back, and she’s not alone: Mattel’s Special Edition Barbie Día de Muertos comes with a catrina-faced Ken Doll Día de Muertos, featuring a “charro look” and a “calavera sugar skull bolero tie and sombrero with a golden band.”

(Oh did I mention they’re like $80 each?)

And I thought Barbie Frida Kahlo was pathetic.

Forget about Mattel’s. This is the Real Barbie Mexicana

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Mexican native Omar Ariel Cortés has created a Facebook page showcasing a world in which Mattel’s famous Barbie doll leaves her magical world to join a more sinister one: the world of drug dealing, breast cancer, single motherhood, prostitution and migration, mostly from a Mexican perspective.

I do not know this guy, but I think some of these images are quite powerful. Besides, they are much more real than Mattel’s now infamous Mexican Barbie.

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All images taken from Omar’s Facebook page.