Barbie Is Now A Hologram And Can Help With Dental Hygiene

Toys and technology have always blended well together, and now, one of the biggest toy classics has ascended to the next level of entertainment. Barbie, the epitome of girly fun and fashion, has been upgraded to a hologram. Not only is it incredibly fun to play with since it can answer questions from children, it can even function as a decent smart assistant.

Called Hello Barbie, Mattel unveiled their newest offering during the New York Toy Fair, Wired reports. The hologram is contained inside a glass box, where the image is projected in a 3D state. It responds to voice commands as well, which anyone who has ever used Amazon’s Alexa or Google Home will already be familiar with.

It can do things like tell the weather and answer questions, along with giving reminders such as telling kids when to brush their teeth. To wake her up, users must say “Hello Barbie,” which will make her appear. Once she’s out, users will be able to change her appearance, make it stay lit at night, or dance and sing.

On that note, Hello Barbie is not a complete hologram in the same sense as in sci-fi movies. It can barely be seen from the sides and from the back, it can’t be seen at all.

Naturally, since this is 2017, gender issues is going to enter the discussion. As TechCrunch notes, there is now the impression that having a female basically act as an assistant is somewhat sexist. It can be argued that this isn’t exactly what Mattel intended when they created the product, but the absence of a Hello Ken can be misconstrued as the company having a gender bias.

Barbie has been a particularly controversial figure when it comes to gender matters in the past thanks to the doll’s rather impossible body figure, which can give off the wrong impression among children. Mattel knows this and should have expected the reaction.