The Philippines is home to a diverse people. As with Hispanics whose appearance ranges from those who can pass for Spaniards to those with strong Aztec or Incan features, there are Filipinos whose family heritage has been heavily influenced by 400 years of Spanish rule and by the Chinese incursions of the past thousand years and so tend to have lighter skin, and there are Filipinos whose ancestors did not have much contact with foreigners and so have preserved the brown skin and other features of the indigenous Malay inhabitants of the islands.
Marketers of “ethnic” dolls are always faced with the problem of presenting the ‘typical’ Asian look. South Asians like people from India and Bangladesh look so different from Northeast Asians like the Japanese and Koreans — yet they’re all called Asians. Then there are Southeast Asians like the Thais, Indonesians, Malaysians and Filipinos!
Mattel, the makers of Barbie, actually did a surprisingly good job in the “Filipinizing” of their Philippine-edition Barbie dolls. Long, dark hair; slightly dark skin; large eyes; medium-sized nose… and dressed fashionably in national costume. The look is one that many Filipinos consider the epitome of the ideal Filipina.
