Will Barbie ever get any eco-love? Because Mattel, Barbie’s maker, has been trying really, really hard to woo environmentalists since last year — when lead paint was discovered on Barbie play sets and other toys.

To make up for that poisonously bad publicity, Mattel first tried in April to market “green” Barbie outfits, ostensibly made out of excess fabric and trimmings that would’ve been thrown away. This, of course, brought up the question of why Mattel had been sending perfectly good fabric to the landfills in the first place. In fact, Barbie’s half-hearted flirtation with eco-fashion did anything BUT court eco-parents — who blogged about the incident so angrily that the New York Times wrote an article about how “when children are the targets [of greenwashing], the environmentalists find it infuriating.”

At that time, green parents were repelled by Mattel’s unhealthy love affair with plastic. Eco-zine Grist noted that “all of the Barbies sold since 1959, placed end to end, would circle the Earth more than seven times.” Wow.

So now, Mattel sort of says it’s trying to shrink those plastic circles — except it’s not, really. That semi-effort’s a new initiative with Wal-Mart dubbed “Give Back with Barbie Cares,” happening at Wal-Mart stores around the country on November 8:

Moms, daughters and Barbie lovers can bring in their Barbie dolls to be used in a pilot program exploring toy recyclability at participating toy departments from noon to 3 p.m. Furthermore, for each doll collected, Mattel will donate a new doll to a local children’s hospital, up to 100,000 dolls. (via skimbaco)

So we’re talking up to 100,000 new, hopefully-lead-free dolls to add to the 7 loops around the earth — plus whatever new dolls the visitors buy during this public event, during which “One thousand stores will host a live Barbie and 2,000 will have a standee.” Old dolls turned in may or may not be recycled, since Mattel only promises it’ll “exploring toy recyclability” and has not yet even done the work to see if the dolls can indeed be recycled….

So far, blog posts about this “Barbie Cares” day are scarce, with the few who’ve written about the event simply reposting Wal-Mart’s announcement verbatim. However, Mary Beth at Blonde Champagne — picked to be one of the 1000 “live Barbies” — gives us a fascinating look into the world of Barbie marketing. Here’s what happened when she answered a call for “Caucasian women with blonde hair who appear in their early twenties.”

When my profile was approved for the call, I felt extremely smug about myself (early 20′s, that’s an entire decade off !) until repeat calls were issued with increasing panic: “We’re offering travel reimbursement!” Then: “We now have a hair dye budget!” And now: “We will fly you in to stand in a Wal-Mart for four hours and collect snot germs!”

Read Mary Beth’s whole post for details on what she calls a “racist and lookist and sexist” dealio that sends kids home with a “Bag O’ Assorted Plastic Crap” — but is still a gig that pays her $100. You can meet Mary Beth, aka Barbie for a day, in person at the Culpeper SuperCenter in Virginia on November 8.

Image via walmartstores.com

[crossposted on BlogHer]

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