When children's brands embrace diversity and inclusion

Timely makeover

As American society wakes up to the need for diversity and inclusion, many companies catering primarily to children are rebranding their mascots. Recently, M&M, famous for its multicoloured candy-coated chocolate, introduced changes to the cartoon characters featured in its commercials. The green M&M, which previously sported white-heeled boots and was portrayed as a sexy woman, is now presented in a gender-neutral manner, and adorns sneakers. The brown M&M, too, is seen wearing more comfortable pumps.

The company also vowed to change the commercials, which sometimes featured outdated and sexist storylines. It hopes to make the characters more “inclusive” with “nuanced personalities”.

On a similar note, the iconic children’s toy, Mr. Potato Head, by Hasbro dropped the ‘Mr’ and will now be referred to as Potato Head only to promote gender inclusion. Mattel, too, has started designing more racially diverse and body-inclusive Barbie dolls.

This is not the only time children’s brands have been used to make socio-political statements. The iconic character, Big Bird, tweeted that he received the Covid-19 vaccine shot, much to the enragement of Republicans. A Fox News commentator said that the muppet was “brainwashing children”.

Uncanny likeness

The president of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and the vice president, Kamala Harris, are now officially in Times Square. Not the actual politicians, but their wax replicas — they bear a pretty close resemblance — were recently unveiled at the Madame Tussauds wax museum in New York City.

The museum has immortalized all past presidents, but this is the first time it created a wax figure for an American vice president. They are both placed standing in a replica of the Oval Office. Their attires match what they wore during the inauguration a year ago. The replica of Biden can be seen wearing a midnight blue Ralph Lauren outfit along with the US flag lapel pin and Senate cufflinks. Harris’s figurine is wearing a custom-made royal blue suit — albeit a shorter version of the coat — by Christopher John Rogers, the same fashion designer behind her inaugural look, complete with her rings, necklaces and pearl earrings.

According to TMZ, the museum’s artists spent six months creating these figures. Some joked online that Biden looked more alive in the wax version of himself than in real life.

A team of London-based artists looked through hundreds of photos to find the perfect one representing the pair, according to NBC. Other wax statues of Biden also exist, one being in the National Presidential Wax Museum near Mount Rushmore and one in the San Antonio museum.

Virtual treasure

Conversations about non-fungible tokens seem to be everywhere as people try to figure out what they are and what their introduction could mean for the future. NFTs are digital assets that can be bought and sold online using cryptocurrencies, mainly Ethereum.

The fashion giant, Hermès, is suing the creator of a digital version of its Birkin handbags that are being sold as an NFT online. An artist created the digital art of the Birkin bag, called ‘MetaBirkin’, and the priciest one is valued at $780,000 (the most expensive Birkin bag was sold at $400,000). The artist said on Instagram that the lawyers at Hermès “don’t understand what an NFT is, or what NFTs do” and will not back down.

These digital tokens have unique metadata that make every piece the only one of its kind, much like real art. It is a billion-dollar industry that is expected to grow, though some believe it could be a speculative bubble. The most expensive NFT called Everydays: The First 5000 Days was sold for $69.3 million and had a starting bid price at just $100.

John Lennon’s son is selling an NFT of the original notes of The Beatles song, “Hey Jude” at a starting price of $30,000.

Shift in trend

With Covid still in the air, many fashion shows are getting cancelled, including ones at the 2022 New York Fashion Week. Many designers are expected to release their Fall lines virtually. One fashion trend that has caught the eye of designers and experts alike is fringe clothing. Several designers had displayed clothing with fringes for their 2022 Spring collections — maxi dresses with flowing fringe skirts, crochet dresses with fringe hemline and so on.

Fringe fashion, popular in the 1990s, seems to be making a comeback. Selena Gomez posted a picture of herself in a sequinned black fringe jacket on Instagram last March. The actress, Gillian Anderson, from The Crown also sported a fringed dress by Chloé at the Emmy Awards last year.

The pandemic has affected fashion trends with people preferring home attire over partywear. But the demand for athleisure — casual, comfortable clothing designed to be suitable both for exercise and everyday wear — seems to have shot up.

Madison Square Park [Facebook]

Footnote

A new installation, Brier Patch, at the Madison Square Park has caught the eye of many. A hundred wooden school desks have been placed across four lawns with tree branches emanating from each of them. The installation is meant to draw attention to the dysfunctional American education system. The branches signify how some excel, while others get left behind. The park said on its website that the work “calls on the notion of the brier patch as a place protective for some and dangerous for others.”