Great news just in time for the holiday season — the Ava DuVernay Barbie is available for purchase starting today.
Mattel first introduced the doll back in April as part of its “Sheroes” line, described by the toy company as “female heroes who inspire girls by breaking boundaries and expanding possibilities for women everywhere.”
At the time, we wrote, “Unfortunately, the Ava DuVernay Barbie isn’t for sale — there’s only one copy of each ‘Shero,’ and those will be auctioned off to charity — but we’re holding out hope that Mattel will take notice of the excitement surrounding DuVernay’s doll and opt to mass-produce it. A generic filmmaker Barbie already exists, but we’d love to see a real-life woman director, especially one of color, represented in Barbie form. The next generation of girls and boys — and future Hollywood storytellers — spending hours making up stories and scenarios with Barbies should have the chance to be inspired by the first black woman to direct a Best Picture Oscar nominee.”
Sure enough, DuVernay’s considerable fan base — namely her 141,000 Twitter followers — convinced Mattel to mass produce the pint-sized iteration of the “Selma” director, and you can get your own today.
DuVernay tweeted, “Tomorrow this #AvaBarbie goes on sale for Christmas because enough folks asked @Mattel to do so. Wild + wonderful.” She also noted that Mattel will donate the proceeds from the Barbie to two nonprofits: Color of Change, a civil rights advocacy organization, and WITNESS, an org that trains and supports people using video in their fight for human rights.
You can buy the doll at The Barbie Collection. Get yours soon — we suspect they’ll sell out quickly. [Update — the dolls sold out in 17 minutes.]
[via TheWrap]
