Sports Illustrated To Feature Actual Barbie Doll On Swimsuit Issue

This will go over well…

Sports Illustrated will have a difficult time living down accusations that the models featured in its annual Swimsuit Issue are too plastic, after it was announced today that the magazine will include photos of an honest-to-goodness Barbie doll.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the annual issue for people who haven’t yet figured out how to find free pictures of attractive barely clothed women online.

Reuters reports that the special cover, which is supposed to be unveiled on Thursday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live but which we found in this Slate article, shows Barbie in the same swimsuit she first sported back in 1959.

“Barbie is a legend in her own right, with more than 150 careers and a brand valued at $3 billion,” said a Mattel spokeswoman, presumably before having a mental breakdown after realizing that she gets paid a lot of money to put on a straight face and say these kinds of things about little plastic women.

Because nothing can be done these days without an accompanying hashtag, the toy company is deploying #unapologetic in an attempt to fight back against claims in recent years that Barbie presents young girls (and young boys) with an idealized image of a woman that could only be achieved through an insane cocktail of engineered genetics, eating disorders, constant exercise, and significant amounts of cosmetic surgery.

However, as McDonald’s recently learned, it’s incredibly easy to turn a hashtag against its creator, and there are already a number of Twitter users employing #unapologetic to express their disappointment with the SI cover.

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by Chris Morran via Consumerist