McBride Goes Plastic

Singing, acting, and posing for the photographer are things most celebrities would normally do in the walk of their career. What about going plastic? That's a very different matter for not all celebrity can do that.

Mattel senior marketing manager Elizabeth Grampp shares the philosophy behind selecting celebrities for their Barbie close-up, "We like to partner with the No. 1 person in his or her category. While some of the celebrity choices are geared toward young girls (Symone, for example), others like McBride and Ball have 'cross-generational appeal.'"

Thus, shortly within this month Mattel is going to unveil the Barbie dolls of famous, like Martina McBride, LeAnn Rimes, R&B/pop trio Destiny's Child, "I Love Lucy"-era Lucille Ball (the line's ninth "Lucy" doll) and Disney star Raven-Symone. The dolls debuting this month in stores until the end of the year have a suggested retail price of $19.99.