The day after Christmas, the New York Times reported that even though the new Puerto Rican Barbie doll "has been received enthusiastically in Puerto Rico," it has "caused a heated debate among Puerto Ricans on the United States mainland," because Barbie's skin is too light, and because she wears a white cotton dress with lace ruffles. The Times quoted a "school art director" in Arlington, Virginia, who said "Barbie looks very, very Anglo." It also quoted Aurora Levins Morales, who teaches at UC-Berkeley, and her nine-year-old daughter. Ms. Morales criticized the doll's "Anglocized image" while her daughter, the Times said, "offered a different critique," that as a budding feminist she thought Barbie was too skinny. "It's a start that they have a person-of-color Barbie," she said, "but still, they should make it look like the person's eaten in the last millennium." The daughter, the Times noted, "refuses to own any Barbies." All this made the front page of perhaps the most respected newspaper in America.

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