Mattel has partnered with National Geographic to launch new Barbie content and consumer products focused on exploration, science, conservation and research this year.
Hitting shelves in the fall, the consumer products range will include dolls and playsets highlighting careers like wildlife conservationist, astrophysicist, polar marine biologist, wildlife photojournalist and entomologist—all occupations in which women are underrepresented. Accessories packaged with the dolls and playsets have been authenticated by an advisory council including female National Geographic explorers.
Content related to the licensing program, meanwhile, will bow on the Barbie YouTube channel throughout 2019.
Mattel recently partnered with Warner Bros. Pictures Group to bring its Barbie franchise to theaters with the first live-action feature film. The untitled movie will star Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street, Mary Queen of Scots) as Barbie, and is the first deal to come out of Mattel’s newly minted Mattel Films division led by producer Robbie Brenner (Dallas Buyer’s Club, Mirror Mirror).