Barbie haters, take a deep breath. I’m about to say something nice about the too-pretty blonde girl we blame for messing up our body images.

Playing with dolls has always been about imagining. It wasn’t Barbie’s fault that once upon a time girls wanted to imagine themselves in pink princess gowns being whisked away by plastic Kens in plastic convertibles. And Barbie doesn’t get credit that now girls can imagine more for themselves.

But props to Barbie for taking a step forward in her new ad campaign. It’s got to be difficult on those poorly proportioned pointy feet.

By contrast, here is the commercial I saw when I was a kid:

I confess, I never gave up on Barbie, even after raising two daughters and trying to protect them from the world’s out-of-proportion focus on small waists. It has been just too difficult to let go of so many childhood memories and, let’s face it, a huge investment in miniature accessories.