Community | Buzzworthy Girl Power Branded merch and giveaways celebrating female athletes and icons dominated the summer. Compiled by Rachel Zoch IMAGES: Shutterstock theblackdogvauxhall.co.uk/store IMAGE: Mattel 1. Mattel Creates Dolls Honoring Women Athletes Earlier this year, Mattel introduced a Barbie doll honoring Olympic gold medal-winning figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, followed a month later by nine one-ofa-kind dolls celebrating groundbreaking female athletes from around the world, including American tennis legend Venus Williams and Canadian soccer star Christine Sinclair, the sport’s greatest international scorer with 190 goals. “I’m honored to be recognized as a sports role model and join forces with Team Barbie to continue empowering the next generation of young girls to never stop believing in their dreams,” said Williams. While the Yamaguchi doll is widely available in retail, the nine commemorative dolls are not available for purchase. Rather, they are a special one-off series to help bring attention to the 65th anniversary of Barbie and Mattel’s partnership with Voice in Sport, an online platform dedicated to supporting girls and women athletes. The toy company, which named Women in Sports as its 2023 Career of the Year for Barbie, also released a new retail line of sports-themed Barbie dolls and accessories: • The 2024 Barbie Sports Doll lineup includes a basketball player, boxer, tennis player and volleyball player, plus their uniforms and equipment. • The 2024 Soccer Doll Assortment includes four soccer players in a variety of uniforms. • The Gymnast Playset features a gymnast, accessories and equipment, including a balance beam, warm-up mat, medal and gym bag. 2. Swifties Swipe Pub’s Branded Pint Glasses, Trigger Merch Drop A London pub mentioned in a Taylor Swift song lost most of its logoed glassware to fans who swarmed the pub during her “Eras Tour” stop in late June, but the establishment launched a merch collection to make the most of the musical name drop. Fans flocked to The Black Dog, which lends its name to a track on Swift’s latest album, The Tortured Poets Department – despite the singer herself never visiting the spot. Lyrics for “The Black Dog” recount how Swift watched as a former flame (but which one?) who left location services enabled on his phone headed into the pub. 60 • OCTOBER 2024 • PPAI
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