SOURCE: THE TOY MONSTER THE BIG BAD WORLD OF MATTEL BY JERRY OPPENHEIMER.
Jill Barad and her top marketing people pushed for two years before 1997. They tried unsuccessfully to get authorization from Diana herself. They aimed to grant Mattel permission to produce a beautiful doll in the Princess’s image. For the Barbie collector line. She refused to be linked to Barbie or commercially exploited as a doll. After her death in 1997 Mattel considered producing an unauthorized doll. How ever The Franklin Mint beat them to the punch by rushing two unlicensed Diana dolls to the market. The memorial fund sued Franklin Mint. They charged the company with exploiting the Princess’s name. They claimed it was “Like vultures feeding on the dead.” Mattel wanted to avoid legal entanglement. They began a major campaign to get permission from the memorial fund and the Late Princess’s Sister Sarah McCorquodale. Mattel intended to produce a beautiful doll with the fund’s approval. Mattel viewed the Franklin mint Diana as “annoyance and derision and ugly”. In March of 1997 five months after Diana Died Anne Zielinski -Old had appiled fora job at Mattel. She was put in charge of designing the Diana doll. She found her self designing Diana’s face and trying to keep it within looking like a Barbie product. She sensed negativity from those working on the Di Project. This started from the time she was assigned to it. Years later, she became aware of a general sour feeling in the Design Center about creating this doll. Everything had to do with accelerating the project when the princess had died suddenly. It was essentially exploiting her death for profit, after she said she did not want to be a Barbie doll. Designing the dress took a lot of time. We ensured Jill liked the design. If she requested changes, they had to be implemented. Jill had the last say. If she wanted the sash turned a different way, we did it. If she wanted her to be coiffed differently in her eyes, we did it. Jill might have been obsessed but that’s pushing it. Having a doll by Mattel would have been a major success. It would have meant we achieved our goal. We all wanted it to happen, and Jill had a great desire to see it happen. In one early meeting, Zielinski-Old brought in the first of eight Princess Diana designs. Barad and the marketing team studied it closely. Then, Barad turned to the nervous designer and asked, “Couldn’t you Mackie it up a bit?” When Zielinski-Old heard that, she knew exactly what Jill wanted, and she did. In the end, it was a very complicated process, but she came up with the doll that got Jill’s approval. In early Feburay 1998, she presented the doll to Barad, and it was billed The Ultimate Princess Diana Gown Doll. Jill’s response was Oh! She’s lovely and Zielinski replied “She sparkles when she turnes Jill” . Barad saw dollars signs once again. Barad was so sure that the Diana doll would be approved by the Diana memorial Fund. She was shocked when she picked up the Wall Street Journal. She saw the headline, “Oh you Doll: Princess Diana could be Immortalized by Hasbro.” Hasbro was in talks with the fund’s trustees. They discussed creating a collectible Diana Doll and other Diana Collectibles. The Journal emphasized “Both sides are eager not to appear to be capitalizing on the death of the princess.” The Fund’s trustees stated they would be sensitive to the public feelings. They would also consider the sentiments about the dead Princess. “It is the duty of the trustees to ensure that the fund rasies as much money as possible.” They aimed to support the causes that Princess held dear. “However they added that “they would be absolutely wrong not to consider a doll”. Franklin Mint and Hasbro had taken the heat. Meanwhile, Mattel’s efforts to enter the Diana market managed to stay under the media radar. These efforts had never been disclosed. But there would be no approval for the doll. Someone at Mattel screwed up. A lack of Mattel etiquette killed the relationship with the fund. Someone sent Zielinski_Old’s Diana doll to the Fund without any prior notice. It was opened by Diana’s siblings. Sarah opened the box and saw her sister. It was the most beautiful Princess Diana doll. But she was horrified. She was shocked that something could be so close to her sister in miniature. The Diana project was immediately killed. Mattel never managed to recover from that. They never got the approval they did it the wrong way. Never one to give up Barad persisted. She personally showed a copy of the original doll. Only two were in existence. She showed it at Toy Fair to special customers behind closed doors. But told buyers that the doll wouldn’t be produced with out the Diana funds approval. Shockingly The fund favored the Hasbro version of Diana and in the end no Diana doll would ever be authorized.
My Thoughts:
As Diana Doll collector I would have like to have a Mattel version of Diana. After reading this, I found out that Diana did not want to be a ” Barbie” doll. I am glad they did not succeed in their endeavors . A side note though The Franklin Mint’s version is highly popular among Diana’s fans. It is also one of the Mint’s top sellers.
by a Mattel representative.
What gown is she wearing????🤦🏻♀️
