There’s A Julie Bishop Barbie Doll And Everyone’s Losing Their Minds
"if you pull the string on the doll's back it gives a list of reasons why CSR isn't liable for its workers dying of asbestos"
Julie Bishop, former foreign minister and deputy leader of the Liberal party, has announced that she now has her own barbie doll and some of the reactions online have been a little less than complimentary about it.
Toy manufacturing giant Mattel chose Bishop, who is now the chancellor of the Australian National University, to be the 2021 official role model for Barbie.
The doll has been created as part of Mattel’s Close the Dream Gap campaign, that aims to change the way that many girls develop self-limiting beliefs and “begin to think they’re not as smart and capable as boys”.
The Bishop doll comes dressed in a navy coat and dress to replicate one of her most recognisable outfits. She actually wore nearly exactly the same attire as her Barbie to meet with the Chinese foreign minister back in 2014.
Bishop posted a video to Instagram saying that she was honoured by the choice and said she she hopes it will “inspire the next generation of little girls to dream that they can be anything they want to be”.
However, there’s been some backlash about Mattel’s choice of role model for the Barbie due to Bishop’s political history.
Hey @Mattel
Julie Bishop is no trail blazer, far from it, that's offensive to Australian women. Please do your due diligence.
Julia Gillard, however, is a trail blazer.
So are many other Australian women.
🐝— 💧🔥🐨Bee🐝🐀PM for Sewer Rats (@BelindaJones68) June 16, 2021
There have also been critical comments based on her history as a lawyer defending the industrial company CSR against compensation claims made by former workers throughout the 80s who had worked in the company’s asbestos mine and developed asbestos-related cancer.
if you pull the string on the doll's back it gives a list of reasons why CSR isn't liable for its workers dying of asbestos pic.twitter.com/JHJGFyh3JO
— Alex McKinnon (@mckinnon_a) June 16, 2021
Julie Bishop Barbie doll to train little girls everywhere that they too can drag out lawsuits to avoid paying compensation to asbestos victims
— The Chaser (@chaser) June 16, 2021