McDonald’s and Barbie declared a joint venture on Friday signing a deal that would place plus-sized Barbie dolls in Happy Meals.
“The body shaming in this country needs to end, and we think that it should come from the corporation that started it in the first place,” said Barbie co-founder Daisy Felton. “I’m as guilty as anyone else in the industry in putting pressure on young girls with unrealistic beauty standards.”
The new Barbie doll will be modeled on actress Melissa McCarthy and is statistically congruent with twenty five percent of the U.S. population.
“We believe this toy more accurately reflects what our customers look like,” said McDonald’s President Jeff Straten. “We want our children customers to be happy with the way they look. It’s a Happy Meal, so it should make you feel happy.”
The reaction so far has been almost universal support with the Better Women’s Council saying the new Barbie is the single biggest advance for women in the last 100 years.
“The first Barbie was so proportionately incorrect that if she were the size of a real woman she would topple over from the size of her bosom,” said Felton. “The new Barbie is like a short brick and making it much harder for her to fall over.”
The overwhelming support has also inspired Barbie to begin developing a plus-sized Ken Doll. Both Jack Black and Kevin James have put themselves forward as possible models with Barbie not confirming a choice at this point.
Other fast food chains are expected to follow this trend. Wendy’s has already signed on Jonah Hill to develop their new line of size-appropriate Wendy’s action figures.