Last year Kate Upton got all the attention in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. This year it seems like it’s going to be Barbie. Mae Anderson wrote:

• It’s the 50^th anniversary swimsuit edition issue for Sports Illustrated and it will be celebrated with the iconic Barbie doll in its pages.
• This is the latest attempt to revive interest in Barbie. Sales fell 13% in the latest quarter.
• Barbie is worth $1.3 billion to Mattel and other attempts to generate media buzz for the doll included a breakup with her boyfriend Ken.
• The media campaign will be called “unapologetic” to represent the company’s response to the criticism that Barbie promotes an unhealthy body image.
• Dolls which sport the swimming costume that Barbie will model in Sports Illustrated will, of course, be sold.

Read more about why Barbie is now “one step away from Playboy magazine”, the dolls that Barbie is now competing against and more over here.

Source: ABC News

Read more of Centives’ coverage of the economics of Sports Illustrated here.