Climate activists trolled Mattel and Barbie by creating a fake Mattel corporate website with a press release announcing that the company would supposedly stop using plastic to create its iconic dolls.
On Tuesday (Aug. 1), pranksters created a realistic Mattel corporate website, which included a press release stating that the company plans to go plastic-free by 2030 and a second press release announcing a line of decomposable Barbie dolls highlighting EcoActivists, some of whom are deceased. The forged document called these dolls the “EcoWarrior Casualty Collection™”
“Families that were killed together will be released simultaneously as a set. Each activist will be immortalized using stylishly authentic clothes and accessories that are both reflective of their passion and fun to play with in combination with the original MyCelia collection,” the website stated.
The fake line of MyCelia™ EcoWarrior Barbies included dolls of environmental activists including Greta Thunberg and Daryl Hannah. Some of the fraudulent press photos included the activists being arrested by police, and having a lock around their neck, among other acts of protest and activism.
“The MyCelia dolls, made of mushroom mycelium, algae, seaweed, clays, wood cellulose, and bamboo, are designed to decompose entirely, unlike plastic dolls of the past. The expanding line also honors activists arrested or killed while committing daring acts of environmental defense,” the hoax website reads.”… The company hopes that this shift will ripple across the industry and create meaningful change, unlike previous commitments. Mattel also intends the MyCelia collection to help compensate for both the surge in plastic sales generated by the success of Barbie the Movie, and for earlier flaccid attempts to address the plastic crisis, like the ‘Barbie Eco-Leadership Team’ that has misled consumers into believing that recycling is a feasible solution to an outsized pollution problem.”
According to Yahoo!, political pranksters the Yes Men, real names Igor Vamos and Jacques Servin, created the elaborate hoax and were able to work with Hannah, who starred in the fake EcoWarrior Barbie commercial and subsequent press conference, which Mattel announced it is trying to prevent by alerting authorities.
In a legitimate Mattel press release, the company responded that it will not be lobbying to ban plastic or to change its production practices. They condemned the “illegal fake website” and believe that those eco-activists’ memories “have been cruelly dishonored by these pranksters.”
“Mattel is the victim of a hoax perpetrated by trolls toying with the emotions of Barbie fans everywhere,” Mattel’s Senior Director & Assistant General Counsel Michael Pellegrino said in a press release. “We will expose them and bring the full force of the law against these bullies. Mattel is all about fun, and this is not fun.”
“Barbie is enjoying a cultural moment that she has earned thanks to her iconic status and devoted following,” Pellegrino added. “It’s a shame that a few sour opportunists want to steal her spotlight for their own agenda. There is a time and a place for appropriate conversations regarding toy manufacturing and the environmental crisis, but this is not it. Fortunately, Barbie’s spirit is strong, fun, and resilient, and she will overcome this.”