Home News Faithful America thanks Mattel for updated, more diverse Fisher-Price nativity

Faithful America thanks Mattel for updated, more diverse Fisher-Price nativity

by News7

Mattel’s changes to its ‘​​Little People Nativity Set’ follow a grassroots Christian campaign urging the company to remove a white, blond Jesus from the popular toy

WASHINGTON – The national, grassroots Christian organization Faithful America is thanking Mattel after the toy company quietly updated its popular Fisher-Price “Little People Nativity Set” to include a more diverse Holy Family. The set, which previously featured a white Holy Family including blond-haired Baby Jesus, now includes a much more racially ambiguous Holy Family.  

The changes to the playset come following a request from more than 20,000 Faithful America members urging the toy company to more accurately depict “the Holy Family as people of color in [the] Nativity sets and to no longer [sell] white Jesus products.” The campaign was covered by Religion News Service.

In a statement, the Rev. Nathan Empsall — executive director of Faithful America, an Episcopal priest, and the father of a preschooler –  thanked Mattel and emphasized the importance of change.

“Thank you for listening to the feedback you received from many Christians, and releasing two new versions of your Fisher-Price Little People Nativity Playset that no longer include a blond, white Baby Jesus or Holy Family. Depictions of Jesus as white in European and American art and culture are a grave historical inaccuracy that have helped to fuel Western colonialism and white supremacy for centuries on end.

“The images and toys we show young children can shape their understanding of reality for decades, and this toy will now help Christian parents teach their children that from the very first Christmas, Jesus centered marginalized communities and continues to love everyone.”

Faithful America’s push to change the playset began in 2021, when the organization contacted the toy company directly via an email to company leadership that noted Mattel’s efforts to diversify other toy lines, including Barbie. At that time, a Mattel representative responded to Empsall, noting in a phone call that senior executives had read the letter and that Faithful America’s concerns were being heard and taken very seriously.

The thank you letter sent to Mattel this month by Empsall on behalf of Faithful America members also noted that there was still more the toy company could do, including removing the old set from its website and ending the characters’ racial “ambiguity and clearly depict the Holy Family in an even more clearly historically accurate way in time for next year’s Christmas season.”  

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Faithful America is the largest online community of grassroots Christians putting faith into action for social justice. We use rapid-response digital campaigns to challenge white supremacy and Christian nationalism, reclaim Christianity from the religious right, and renew the church’s prophetic role in building a more free and just society. Members are both clergy and lay; represent every major Christian denomination in the U.S.; and live in all 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

Contact:

Shamari White

Faithful America

202-714-4129

[email protected]

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Religion News Service or Religion News Foundation.

Source : ReligionNews

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