Mattel has a new Cherokee Barbie. Not everyone is happy with it.

A Barbie doll in the shape of Wilma Mankiller, the first woman elected chief of the Cherokee Nation, was praised by tribal citizens. It is also deplored for its inaccuracies.

An event held Tuesday in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, marked the birthday of Ms. Mankiller, who became a chef in 1985, and celebrated her Barbie doll. Mattel, the company that produces Barbie dolls, announced the new toys last month as part of the Series ‘Inspiring women’ including the conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall, the journalist Ida B. Wells and the writer Maya Angelou.

The doll’s release received some criticism. The doll itself depicts Mrs. Mankiller, who died in 2010, with dark hair, wearing a turquoise dress and carrying a basket, an image that Chuck Hoskin Jr., principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, said was “thoughtful” and “well done ‘ used to be. .” However, he noted that some in the community said the doll basket was not authentically Cherokee.

Another problem was the doll’s packaging, which used the wrong syllable, or set of symbols, for the Cherokee language, for the national seal, Mr. Hoskin said. As a result, the package’s syllabary read “Chicken Nation” instead of “Cherokee Nation.”

“For someone who doesn’t read the Cherokee syllabary, they won’t notice it,” Mr. Hoskin said. “For the Cherokee people for whom Wilma is of such lasting significance and we have such abiding love for her, it is very disappointing to see that our seal is incorrect as it would not have taken much effort or thought to avoid that.”

The packaging also identified the tribe as “Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma,” instead of the tribe’s official name, Cherokee Nation, which is used in all of the tribe’s treaties with the federal government.

“I don’t want to blame anyone, but I really wish they had done the packaging correctly,” said Pamela Iron, executive director of the nonprofit American Indian Resource Center and a close friend of Ms. Mankiller.

Mr. Hoskin learned that Mattel was designing the doll about six months ago, he said, and Mattel did not work directly with the Cherokee Nation before the unveiling. But Mattel was open to the criticism, he said.

“After some of the issues came to light, we had really good conversations with Mattel. And I think internally they responded to us in a very thoughtful way and expressed some regret for not involving us,” Mr. Hoskin said.

A Mattel representative said in a statement that the company had worked closely with Ms. Mankiller’s estate, led by her widower, Charlie Soap, “throughout the process” in an effort to “best preserve and celebrate her legacy.” . The company said it also worked with Kristina Kiehl, a friend of Ms. Mankiller, to design the doll.

“I don’t do dolls. I still believe she would be okay with the decisions we made on this project,” Mr. Soap, who is also a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, told the crowd at the event in Tahlequah on Tuesday. “I think she would probably make a few comments about it, but I think she would be happy with it.”

Born in 1945, Ms. Mankiller served as chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1985 to 1995, during which the tribe’s membership more than doubled. As a teenager, her family was displaced from rural Oklahoma to San Francisco in 1956 as part of a federal government program to move native families to urban areas — a move Ms. Mankiller described in 1993 as her own “trail of tears.”

Before Ms. Mankiller became a chef, she was known for her activism. In 1969, she assisted Native American demonstrators during a 19-month occupation of Alcatraz to protest the U.S. government’s treatment of indigenous people. She also worked in various roles within the Cherokee Nation government, eventually rising to deputy chief and then chief.

“When I ran for election, I faced incredible opposition simply because I am a woman,” Ms. Mankiller told National Public Radio in 1993.

Ms Mankiller focused on education, housing, healthcare and women’s rights during her term, which ended after ten years due to her ill health. In 1998, President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

Mattel did not specify how it would address the packaging errors, but a spokeswoman did told the Associated Press that the company was “discussing options.” The packaging inaccuracies did not come to light during Tuesday’s event, which focused on Ms. Mankiller’s performance.

Mr. Soap did not respond to a request for comment, although he referred obliquely to complaints that the doll did not look enough like Ms. Mankiller.

“I think Wilma would find it funny if people took the time to comment on her resemblance to the Barbie doll, because Wilma didn’t want to be compared to other people,” Mr. Soap said in his speech. The audience included members of Mrs. Mankiller’s family and tribal dignitaries.

Audra Smoke-Conner, a friend of Ms. Mankiller, noted Tuesday that the doll would still have an impact.

“I am so grateful for the fact that we have girls who can play with a native Barbie,” Ms. Smoke-Conner said.