Barbie : A New Campaign Promoting Empowering Girls Essay

While the Barbie doll set an unrealistic female appearance expectation, she has also taught young girls that a woman can be anything she desires to be. Whether a doctor, a chef, a teacher, or a police officer, Barbie did it all. Today, our youngest generations are playing with the toys that in some way, shape, and form have been influenced by the leading Mattel toy company, or in other words the birthplace of the Barbie dll. Kids nowadays are still growing and exploring the world with Barbie just like generations before them did.

During the time of development and release of Barbie, the feminist movement was in full swing. The concept that Barbie may have been manufactured as a weapon against these feminist groups is plausible as the image of Barbie exploits the female body and challenges the values held by active feminists. Though, from a slightly different perspective, one could argue that Barbie with her freedoms and luxuries supports the ideals of women's equality and rights. Barbie may have been the transition piece of the decade, setting a new path for women and young girls.

After so many years of condemnation that Barbie's looks did not reflect her diverse audience, Mattel (a toy company that produce Barbies), struggle to boost sales. Mattel introduced the Fashionistas line in the late 2013- 2015. The Fashionistas line includes more multiculturalism dolls. Mattel decided that they will bring out dolls with three new realistic body types with seven skin tones, twenty-two eye colors and twenty-four hairstyles. The doll new will include petite, tall and

Young girls have been playing with Barbie dolls since the dolls inception at the American International Toy Fair in New York. Recently, researchers have been skeptical on whether the dolls have an effect on the self-image of girls who play with them. In order to determine if Barbies have an impact on young-girls self-concept, clinicians have carried out several studies where they monitor the interaction between the young girls and the famous figurine. From these experiments, scientists concluded that Barbies can have a bearing on a girls self-image, making the consumers who buy the doll more aware of the issue Barbie

As I was on the hunt for the perfect gift for an 8 year old’s birthday, I discovered the doll market is quite different than my coming of age. Undoubtedly, Barbie is still problematic, but now she has competitors, including Bratz, and Monster High dolls, who are noticeably thinner than barbie and dressed up to look like grown women getting ready for a night of clubbing than a game of tennis. As I pick up the first doll box, I find a doll chained up in a slither of clothing with a blank expression on her face, a prominent thigh gap, with the tagline “GREAT for girls ages 5 and up!” By all means, I never imagined in my life that I would miss Barbie. For that reason, I begin to sit myself down in the toy aisle to start googling everything I could about these dolls on my

The evolution of Barbie has been an interesting one. The doll has sparked countless debates, yet has continued to be a defining icon for children for countless years, and will probably be so for many more. Her changing fashion, careers and views could be easily attributed to the changing views in our society and current fashions that have transfixed the world over time. Barbie is a tangible embodiment of pop culture throughout the years, she has managed to become popular and stay popular, because she has done what many toys could not, she has grown to fit the world around her, and by doing so has captivated generations.

In New York on March 9, 1959, Mattel introduced the Barbie doll to America. The thin, teenage fashion model that has a perfect slender nose, big eyes, a valumptuious bust, a narrow midsection, and curvy hips. It is estimated that over a billion Barbie dolls have been sold worldwide in over 150 countries. Barbie is one of the first toys to have a marketing strategy based extensively on television advertising, which has been widely copied by other toys. Barbie has also appeared in a series of animated films such as Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3. Barbie’s petite figure, perfectly arched eyebrows, and plastic smile has become the desired American image that many teenage

Since the emergence of the Barbie doll in 1959, Barbie has been a populous choice among young children, and more specifically young girls because of its monopolization of the toy market. Barbie is a doll that has been outwardly controversial and debated upon for years and most likely will be for many years to come. The idea of the Barbie doll is a toy for which young girls model themselves after and aspire to be like when they mature and grow up. DuCille states, “more than simple instruments of pleasure and amusement, toys and games play crucial roles in helping children determine what is valuable in and around

On March 1959 during the American International Toy Fair, Barbie with a demure sidelong glance entered the world stage for the first time. Unlike the earlier traditional toys, Barbie in her high heels and black and white striped swimsuit seemed ready for an upscale pool party, and in the end, she revolutionized both the toy industry and society’s culture by representing the changing society as more women joined the workforce after World War II. As a result, today when any typical American woman reflects back at her childhood besides perhaps crayons, the Barbie Dolls have to be in the top list since it became an integral childhood partner. For most innocent American female children, the Barbie doll is more

Todays society has been raised to idolize unrealistic body figures; which in turn, causes harm to women’s lives through their low self esteem, as well as eating disorders, and earning less income for obese working women. Every little girls dream toy when they are young, is to own one, if not many, Barbie dolls. What many parents do not know, or think about, is they are setting their child up for a long battle of self doubt, and low self esteem. Children, without knowing it, look at Barbie and think that is what they should look like, but in reality Barbie is an unrealistic figure. If Barbie was real, she would be about five feet, nine inches tall, and one hundred and ten pounds.

An essential trope that was fundamentally used throughout the course of this commercial was the use of young girls playing real life professional career roles. According to the executive director of BBDO San Francisco, Matt Miller, “ 'Barbie was originally created to show girls they have choices, a fact that most people have forgotten. So we set out to show everyone how girls really play and demonstrate that, when girls play with Barbie, they actually play out the possibilities their futures hold.' " (qtd in AdWeek) BBDO San Francisco is a full service advertising ad agency and is part of the largest agency in North America, Omnicom. The executive creative director of the ad agency BBDO San Francisco exemplified how to reach out to their target audience about the true message of Barbie. "BBDO’s initial work, which BBDO New York president and CEO John Osborn called 'just the beginning of our ongoing partnership with Barbie…to create a movement in support of this iconic brand and help convert parents into brand advocates,' seems a clear indication of what to expect in the future as the agency will undoubtedly continue to mine the imagination and empowerment angle." (qtd in AdWeek) The ad agency, BBDO wanted to emphasize and encourage parents how their child would grow with the true purpose and role of Barbie. They purposely wanted to constantly remind parents that Barbie allows girls to seek and explore boundless

When I was a little girl, I thought nothing in the world could delight me as much as a Barbie doll. Barbie doll accompanied me to grow up, helped me to broaden my horizon, sparked my imagination and independence, improved my aesthetic judgment and ingenuity, and promoted me to make more friends. However, such a great doll—Barbie has to bear all kinds of controversy: Barbie bashers treated it as a negative impact on the shape of like for young women, such as dieting and cosmetic; other criticized it as a toy being yielded too easily to the social trend or political corrections pressure. In proper perspective, Barbie is just a toy for young children, nothing more, and nothing less. In my view, she is a gratifying doll in

In fact, the Barbie doll was so popular that three years after her release in 1959 Mattel was still filling orders from her first year (Long 17).

Since then, according to Ashley Alexander’s article “Barbie Product Life Cycle” (2012) Barbie has been the leading brand in dolls for over 50 years. This is because of their ability to adapt to the changing market. Barbie’s success comes from it’s globalized production and it’s advertisements that they have

Barbie, at the age of 41, is one of the longest living toys in America. Analyzing her early history can give a person a look into the societal trends and culture of the late 1950's and early 1960's. There is evidence of fashion innovations in Barbie's wardrobe. Also, one can see the perception of females by society, such as what they should look like, how they should act and dress, as well as what their future goals could be. The following essay follows Barbie's history from 1959 to 1963, covering her development, her appeal to children, and her existence as a cultural artifact of the time period.