A hypothetical image of one of the most popular toys ever invented has ignited a social media debate about female body image, the Huffington Post reported.
It all began when the Facebook group Plus Size Modeling posted a photo (produced by Worth1000) last week depicting a Barbie doll with curvier limbs, a wider waist and a double-chin with the question: "Should companies start making plus-sized Barbie dolls?"
According to the Examiner, the photo sparked a heated debate among Facebook users, some of whom have taken issues with the hypothetical doll's size.
"No one is naturally fat for god's sake, that's sending the message to girls that it's OK to look like this and be unhealthy," said one commenter.
Others were very welcoming of the plus-sized Barbie doll.
"Nothing wrong with a curvy Barbie ... real women have curves, show girls it's OK to have meat on their bones," said one woman.
This isn't the first time a makeover of Mattel's Barbie fueled debate, according to the Examiner. Over the summer, artist Nickolay Lamm made public a 3-D model of a "normal-weight" Barbie, who was shorter and thicker than the typical doll.
Lamm told the Huffington Post he took on the project to address concerns that the current Barbie doll promotes an unhealthy body image and eating disorders among young girls.
"If we criticize skinny models, we should at least be open to the possibility that Barbie may negatively influence young girls as well," Lamm said. "If there's even a small chance of Barbie in its present form negatively influencing girls, and if Barbie looks good as an average-sized woman in America, what's stopping Mattel from making one?"
Some commenters on the recent plus-sized photo said they preferred Lamm's doll to the one posted on Plus Size Modeling's Facebook page.
"Portraying Barbie as a realistic [woman] with real curves is a very good idea and would send the right message to young girls about self esteem," one woman said in a comment. "Making a morbidly obese Barbie is BAD!! An idea WORSE than the anorexic twig Barbie usually is."
According to the Examiner, many body experts say that if Barbie were a real person, she would be 6-feet-tall, weigh a measly 100 pounds and have a 16-inch waist.