When it comes to Barbie’ s body, it will no longer be one size fits all. On Thursday, Mattel unveiled curvy, petite and tall ver

admin2016-12-28  56

问题     When it comes to Barbie’ s body, it will no longer be one size fits all. On Thursday, Mattel unveiled curvy, petite and tall versions of its iconic fashion doll whose unrealistically thin shape has attracted criticism for decades. The three body types will also be sold in an assortment of skin tones, eye colors and hairstyles.
    The move is about more than just making Barbie look different. While Barbie was once Mattel’s powerhouse brand, sales have plummeted in recent years as the doll has struggled to remain relevant to little girls who do not look like her and who play with toys other than dolls. "This is about drawing a wider demographic that had turned away from Barbie back to Barbie," said Jim Silver, the editor of a toy review website.
    But some industry experts and academics have long doubted that cosmetic changes—whether racial or body shapes—can revive the popularity of the 57-year-old Barbie, whose sales have been declining by double-digits in recent years. Executives have been optimistic, pointing to signs that Barbie’ s in-store sales began picking up last year.
    The slumping sales may also be partly attributed to the shift away from traditional toys toward electronics and games in recent years, as many parents and children have clamored for less gender-specific toys. Even Lego, the world’ s top toymaker, has had to alter its strategy and some of its building block lines to accommodate the growth in the market for learning toys that appeal to boys and girls. Faced with weakening sales in its core brands like Barbie, and criticism that it was too slow to pick up on trends, Mattel has undertaken a number of efforts to improve innovation.
    Barbie’ s new shapes also coincide with a progressive cultural shift already underway in stores and the toy aisles. Parents and many health experts have complained that too many dolls, models and even clothing companies conform to an extremely thin, even anorexic, body type and have pressured corporations to offer a broader variety of images and apparel sizes to give girls and boys more confidence in their own body shapes.
    And some parents, concerned about negative gender stereotypes(a racecar for a son, a princess doll for a daughter), have pushed retailers into more gender-neutral territory. The Disney Store, for example, decided to label all of its children’s Halloween costumes as "for kids," as opposed to for boys or girls. Amazon, which by some measures accounts for more than half of all online sales, has banished gender distinctions for its toys.
What do some industry experts and academics think of Barbie’ s change?

选项 A、It’ s too old for Barbie to vary its race and body shapes.
B、The change of makeup may not make Barbie popular again.
C、Barbie can not be in accordance with customer preferences.
D、Barbie can represent more girls with different racial and body shapes.

答案B

解析 根据题干关键词定位到第三段。该段第一句较长,句子主干是But some industry experts and academics have long doubted that…,表示态度的关键词是doubted“怀疑”。怀疑的具体内容是that引导的宾语从句,即“妆容的改变——不管是种族还是体形——并不能让57岁的芭比重受欢迎”,故B项符合文意,且may的语气缓和,与doubted一致。A项的It’s too old判断有误,C项说法太绝对,D项与题干无关。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/V3oZ777K
0

最新回复(0)