--- title: Normal Barbie Ad Captures Insane Pressure to Have a Perfect Body description: Even dolls with cellulite can have a good time at the beach canonical: https://time.com/3697999/lammily-doll-normal-barbie-ad/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-05T17:52:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:36.799Z og:title: This 'Normal Barbie' Ad Captures Society's Insane Pressure to Have a Perfect Body og:description: Even dolls with cellulite can have a good time at the beach og:url: https://time.com/3697999/lammily-doll-normal-barbie-ad/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This 'Normal Barbie' Ad Captures Society's Insane Pressure to Have a Perfect Body twitter:description: Even dolls with cellulite can have a good time at the beach twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # This 'Normal Barbie' Ad Captures Society's Insane Pressure to Have a Perfect Body > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=6a746539-0db1-4d39-8767-f7e468b81f5f&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Second Graders React to Lammily and Other Fashion Dolls [Watch (HLS stream): Second Graders React to Lammily and Other Fashion Dolls](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cWh4h3Zv.m3u8) (5:45)  _Published 2014-11-18. Second Graders React to Lammily and Other Fashion Dolls_ by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Mar 5, 2015 5:52 PM UTC by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Mar 5, 2015 5:52 PM UTC The [Lammily](https://lammily.com/) doll — [playfully dubbed the “Normal Barbie”](http://time.com/3593968/the-new-normal-barbie-comes-with-an-average-womans-proportions-and-cellulite-sticker-extension-packs/) — finally has an ad — and it’s absolutely incredible. “I created a video in which ‘Normal Barbie’ encounters unrealistic beauty expectations, just like in the real world,” creator Nickolay Lamm tells TIME. Specifically: Spring break in Miami. When the Lammily doll is invited on vacation with her friends, she is overcome with a wave of pop culture-fueled self consciousness. Is her normal body — which is modeled after an average 19-year-old woman’s measurements (based on CDC data) — “bikini ready?” “The video parodies twerking, Victoria’s Secret, American Apparel, Facebook and more,” Lamm says. In the end, however, “Normal Barbie” learns that even dolls with stretch marks ([available for purchase in a Lammily extension pack](http://time.com/3593968/the-new-normal-barbie-comes-with-an-average-womans-proportions-and-cellulite-sticker-extension-packs/)) can have fun at the beach. [There is a growing movement](http://time.com/3667580/mattel-barbie-earnings-plus-size-body-image/) toward a society that embraces healthier, more natural bodies. The Lammily doll is fighting that fight, one twerk at a time. _Read Next:_ [_Bye, Bye Barbie: 2015 Is the Year We Abandon Unrealistic Beauty Ideals_](http://time.com/3667580/mattel-barbie-earnings-plus-size-body-image/) ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] How would children respond to a realistically proportioned fashion doll. To find out, I went to St. Edmund's Academy, an independent school in Pittsburgh. There Assistant Head of School, Susan Miller, asked children a series of questions. To see what they think of Lammily in comparison to other dolls. She's so pretty. I like her. I like her. I like her. I like her a lot. Hmm. I like her. So cool, it's cool. She looks like my sister. She looks like my sister. From the side she really looks like her. She kinda looks like my aunt Katie. She's not like other dolls. She, like, isn't, like, very thin. I think she's really pretty. The hair looks like real hair. It feels as soft as mine. Feels soft. The hair feels so soft. Her hair is softer than I thought. Her hair is definitely like hair. She's not like other dolls [ MUSIC ] That I play with. She's really unique cause I don't have other dolls like this. It looks real. It looks more like a real live person. She's like a real person. She looks more like a person. Her belly button looks realistic. She looks like she's just a regular girl going to school. Any activities you think she would do? About every activity I do. I still in gymnastics and dance. I make her run. I make her do gymnastics, too. Like a gymnastics pose. Gymnastics. You can like, pretend she's running. And she could ride some of my toy horses, but this one can't really go her so legs apart. What would you say the career would be of the Lamalee doll? Swimmer. A swimmer. Being a teacher. T shirt. T shirt. Surfing. Like a computer job. A pilot. What do you think the other doll would be? A surfer. A fashion star. LIke a model. A makeup artist. A swimming teacher. A cook. Looks like she would do any job. Which one do you think most seems like you? This one. This one. This one. This one. This, this one. Cuz if she was real she would be able to. Stand more. What do the other one's feet look like? Like she has heel, invisible heels on. These don't really have like the kinda heel things. This have their toes stuck together, and they have like. The high heeled form of the tippy toe, these ones can like, they have separate toes. The toes like, they're not like a bunch of bumps. Cuz me, arms. Are not that like, skinny, all the way. Are they the same? Oh, what is different? She is wider than this one. She is a little bit wider. She is wider. More humanlike and wider. It's a little bit. Bladder. Her belly's so in. Like And this one is like nice and like the perfect size. It's not thin like that. She's not so skinny. This one's like all fashiony and then like, and I think, then she thinks they're bet, she. He's better than everyone else. [ LAUGH ] I used to have, like, as much makeup as she does. She doesn't have a lot of makeup like most of my dolls. But she's smiling. She has a smile on the, her face. And. [ MUSIC ] She looks like she would help somebody if they get hurt. If I were to say to you, you're gonna get one of these dolls as a present ., which one would you like to receive as a present? I have many of these and I would like this one. This one, cuz I already have her. I already have this one. So, I would like get this one. You wouldn't like- Little Emily doll. [ MUSIC ] This one. [ MUSIC ] Little Emily doll. This one. Probably once the boy dolls get out, I'll probably play with them a lot. 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