BS BULLETIN:
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A CVS shopper spotted what she believed were Nazi salutes on the packaging of a gymnastics-themed Barbie doll.
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The TikTok video sparked accusations against Mattel and calls for a boycott.
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Other viewers say the supposedly sinister figures are simply cheering spectators.
Barbie has been an astronaut, a doctor, a presidential candidate, and just about everything else imaginable. Now, according to some social media critics, her cheering section has apparently joined the Third Reich.
It started when TikToker Ana Elizabeth spotted a gymnastics-themed Barbie at CVS and took a closer look at the packaging.
The doll, part of Mattel’s “You Can Do Anything” line, comes dressed in a leotard with rhythmic gymnastics equipment. Behind her is an illustrated crowd of blue-colored spectators.
And that’s where things went sideways.
@anaelizabethdarlin She better win the Olympics, cause her coach will be heil-y disappointed😂 #fyp #barbie #lol ♬ original sound – ww2_hstry
Several figures appear to have one arm raised, which Elizabeth interpreted as resembling a Nazi salute. She posted the video with a German marching song associated with the Nazi era and joked:
“She better win the Olympics, cause her coach will be heil-y disappointed.”
The video, originally posted in September, attracted plenty of outrage before the New York Post picked up the controversy Saturday.
“Literally what else could that be? That’s crazy,” one commenter wrote.
Another announced, “ooop….. so we’re 100% boycotting Mattel.”
A third insisted that genuine cheering would involve both arms: “If they were cheering they would have both arms up.”
Shoppers on TikTok and other social media platforms have expressed horror and outrage after noticing an alarming graphic on the packaging of a Mattel gymnast Barbie doll.
#News https://t.co/pymKy4T8X2— Dubon007 (@gdubon007) October 10, 2026
But the internet wasn’t unanimously ready to put Barbie on trial at Nuremberg.
“We live in the dumbest timeline,” one skeptic observed.
“That’s reaching,” wrote another.
One particularly exasperated commenter pointed out that the tiny illustrated spectators aren’t exactly anatomically sophisticated.
“Barbie doesn’t even have an elbow, so how are the crowd Barbies supposed to bend their arms,” the commenter asked, adding that several figures actually have both arms raised.
The commenter accused critics of seeing sinister symbolism everywhere.
The controversy comes as toy companies and retailers face growing scrutiny over imagery that some customers consider offensive. In August, Target removed a Halloween costume after complaints that its design resembled racist minstrel-show imagery.
In Barbie’s case, there is no established evidence that the packaging was intended to depict Nazi salutes, and Mattel has not publicly addressed the accusation in the reporting reviewed.
