Presidential Barbie Is the First to Choose Her Running Mate

While the media has been abuzz with speculations about who the presumptive presidential nominees will choose as their running mates in this year’s U.S. election, Barbie has beaten everyone to the curb and revealed her choice for vice president: another Barbie.

Mattel has been launching a different presidential Barbie doll every election year since 1992, but this is the first time the doll comes with a running mate.

The all-female presidential ticket is available for pre-order on Mattel’s website. Each doll comes in a variety of skin tones, colors and hairstyles, but the outfits are standardized.

President Barbie is patriotic in a red-and-white jacket and blue skirt, while her running mate wears a bright yellow peplum jacket, black pants, and glasses.

This is the latest effort by Mattel to fight declining sales by improving Barbie’s image among today’s consumers who have criticized the line of dolls for promoting a detrimental representation of girls based on clothes and unrealistic body standards. In late January, the company introduced three new body types for Barbie: tall, petite, and curvy. The President and Vice President Barbies, however, feature the original slim body type.

Since her creation in 1959, Barbie has had a variety of careers, from ballerina to surgeon. One of the latest additions, Game Developer Barbie, was particularly well received by the media last month.

Now, off to the convention!