Iranian dolls Dara & Sara are considered as new phenomenon in the Middle East. Although only 6 months has passed from their date of birth, they are considered to be rivals for Barbie dolls, which are the portray of the Western Culture.

In other words, in accordance to foreign news agencies and newspapers, war of dolls in markets has begun -- Sara & Dara have appeared -- for exportation of the Islamic culture.

Matel Company makes Barbie dolls, which are tall blondes, with pierced ears and tight clothes. Ken is the boy friend of Barbie, who does not intend to get married to Barbie at all. In fact, as an Egyptian woman has said, it is quite difficult to try to tell Eastern children about these dolls and their relationship.

On the other hand, Sara & Dara are twin brother and sister, with Eastern looks, a length of 35cms and weight of 900 grams. They travel with their father, wearing Iranian clothes. In fact they are the symbol of Iranian culture.

Chinifroushan, person in charge of their production said, " we started to discuss our status in 1996 in regard to toys for Iranian boys and girls. We reached the conclusion that we are short of computer games for boys and short of dolls for Iranian girls. Therefore we had to produce them. Sara & Dara are the outcome of 3 years of research and study.

When Iran started to produce dolls, some other countries welcomed this idea, too. Egypt was one of these countries, producing dolls called "Leila" which wears long clothes.

Meanwhile, Barbie dolls were produced in their Eastern looks too, with dark skin, but the point was that they did not have the figure of Eastern women and still represented Western women and culture. All the controversy that started with production of Iranian dolls Dara & Sara was because they were produced in Iran, which is considered as a fundamentalist country trying to export its Islamic culture."

Finally, Chinifroushan stated that our goal was not to get rid of Barbie dolls. Of course, we are happy if the children buy Iranian dolls with Iranian outfits, but it seems that whatever relates to Iran, becomes a political issue in the international scene. War of dolls is the result of analysis of foreign news agencies. Dara & Sara are only 6 months old having been warmly welcome.