The petition, started by Remy Ocampo, calls for Mattel to release an official Selena Quintanilla Barbie.
“In the past and in recent years they've also made headlines for making diverse celebrity Barbie dolls like Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya, Ava Duvernay, Nicki Minaj, Beyonce and many more,” Ocampo writes. “As a huge Selena fan and Barbie collector, we want Mattel to create an official Selena doll in her likeness. There has yet to be any curvy Hispanic barbie dolls in any Barbie line and we think Selena is a perfect candidate for that kind of representation.”
Ocampo says that while there have been dolls of Selena, Mattel could go a long way towards legitimizing her as a figure for a new generation of girls and boys.
“In the past there has been Selena dolls but never an official Selena doll done by Barbie (Mattel) themselves,” Ocampo writes. “In 1997 Arm Enterprise released 2 limited edition Selena dolls, those dolls have since become collectors items and they're very hard to obtain over in the secondary market.”
So far the petition has collected more than 3,500 supporters, just a few under the 5,000 signature goal. While it’s unclear if Mattel is paying attention, they probably should be. Selena is a huge figure and a great way for the toy giant to reach a community underserved in the doll market.
Even if Mattel doesn’t make it official, we guess Selena fans could go the way of Hijarbie and DIY. Which is not a bad solution by any means.