Mattel fueled female-empowerment; however, they have taken a sharp unforeseen turn towards a movement that promotes body acceptance. Three new bodies, petite, tall and curvy, from Mattel will take shelves beginning January 28th 2018. They will be sold alongside the original busty, thin-waisted form on Barbie.com, still all under the name Barbie. The spotlight however is shined upon the curvy one; thick thighs, a protruding stomach and a behind that seems to be talking the most. The startling change to the most infamous body in the world [] . The brand does $1 billion in sales across more than 150 countries and 92% of girls in America ages 3 to 12 own or have owned a Barbie [] . The company hopes that the new dolls, having diverse body types, new skin tones and hair textures introduced last spring will bring a sense of reflection to the young owner’s world. Dr. Harding explains it as “bigger than Barbie’s shape, because this really gets gender inequality in the United States as well” []. Mattel changes Barbie’s image after fifty-seven years as a result of continuous accusations of the It-girl frame affecting female society. Late January of 2015, Mattel released the images of the new barbie. The iconic doll now made in petite, curvy, tall, and original. This move Mattel says is “More than just making Barbie look different”. [] Mattel is re-focusing their late powerhouse brand, sales have plummeted in recent years as the doll has struggled to remain relevant to little 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
In the article “Klaus Barbie, and Other Dolls I’d Like to See,” Susan Jane Gilman talks about how we create this doll that sends a message to girls that they have to look a certain way. Gilman talks about how Barbie sets the standard that girls have to be a tall, skinny, blonde, blue eyed, straight, white female (Gilman). It tells girls that if they were anything else, they were never going to be pretty enough or accomplish much because they do not look like the ideal woman. At another point in the article, Gilman talks about how Barbie has introduced other dolls that are different races but are only limited edition (Gilman). With these limited edition Barbie dolls, it furthers the fact that people who are not the stereotypical Barbie, are not as good. Since this ideal woman is now within the
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
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
The main reason that Barbie gained so much popularity and is still popular today was because her main purpose and her conception were to fill the void of having a role-playing toy. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, the girls had only baby dolls and paper dolls to role-play with. With the new age of television in many households, Mattel’s aggressive marketing on television, contributed to making Barbie a household name. Some other reasons for Barbie’s success, was because Barbie was marketed with different careers, clothes, accessories and companions over the years. In 1998, Happy Holiday’s Barbie Doll was one of the first dolls to be sold as a collector doll. Mattel has new holiday dolls that come out each year. Now Barbie has evolved into a way for mother’s and daughter’s to bond, by the passing down of older dolls and being able to collect them. Barbie has become
What was that one doll every little girl just had to have growing up? What doll made little girls obsess with perfection? What doll set the unrealistic standards for girls starting at ages three or four? Barbie is a children’s toy that was first introduced to the market in 1959. Barbie was the perfect role model for all girls. She was perfectly skinny, had a perfect boyfriend and family, perfect hair, perfect house, perfect everything, but her existence is completely ironic. Although Mattel, creator of Barbie, attempts to make Barbie absolute perfection, all her imperfect buyers are wondering why they cannot look like the beautiful doll. She is responsible for the diminishing young girls’ self-confidence. Lisa Belkin believes girls in today’s society cannot comprehend what true beauty is because they were so entranced with the idea of Barbie in her online article “Banning Barbie.” Barbie should be pulled off the shelves immediately. Barbie’s looks, actions, and lust for materialistic objects are the blame for the degeneration of assurance in young girls and women.
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
One of the most popular “girl” toys today is Barbie, she has been popular ever since she first introduced. She is a stereotype to all girls,
Barbie has evolved over the years representing many cultures while also showing the change in fashions interests and beliefs related to change in time. Barbie has changed and has donned dozens of costumes and styles. As the love for Barbie is greatly increasing the manufacturer of the idolized doll has expanded its "Fashionista" line, releasing more new Barbies according to people’s interests and beliefs.
After reading this article, I am happy to know that Mattel has made many changes to their Barbie dolls. The original Barbies were usually WAY out of proportion such as small waists, large breasts, and incredibly long legs. Not to mention that most Barbies were blonde haired and blue eyed. To top it all off, the Barbies were always seen wearing overly fancy clothes. This set the impossible goal for little children to look like this. Setting such an impossible is terrible for children because not being able to reach their goal can cause a child to berate themselves. Children should be able to be proud of their skin and eye color. They also should feel like they are not beautiful if they are not wearing a dress. No one who is a normal kid person
Since 1965, Barbie, and more recently, the Bratz line of dolls, have been the poster children for beauty, despite their grotesquely disproportionate appearance. Barbie and Bratz dolls were meant to represents average girls in their teen years tall, flowing hair and incredibly thin, a body image that is not possible for every girl, though Mattel’s slogan “Barbie can be anything! And so can you!” might suggest otherwise. For the company to insist young girls compare themselves to the piece of plastic that is a Barbie doll, is completely outrageous. Looking at the doll 's physical appearance, it 's clear that a real person could never embody this image. Breaking down the doll’s structure, there are feet readily bent for high heels, long muscular legs and thin arms, not to mention the fact that the head of a Barbie or Bratz doll exceeds the width of it 's waist! To even begin to entertain this image is unrealistic. What are we telling
In 1959 Mattel Toy releases a womanized figure called Barbie, a doll with unrealistic body proportions. Little girls all over the world idolized this toy, wanting to grow up just like Barbie. The blond hair, skinny waist and blue eyes toy. Parents were thrilled by this toy but little did they know it created a big self-esteem drop and brought their child’s insecurities up.
While I was researching what a seven year old would want as a birthday present, I pick something that was my favorite toy when I was a little kid, the Barbie doll. Barbie dolls give me a nostalgic feeling of being with my best friend and playing Barbies for hours on end. Picking this toy I knew how I felt about Barbies when I was seven years old that I knew someone who was turning seven as well would like this gift. When looking at the types Barbie dolls nowadays the only ones I could find on the Toys R Us website were Barbie Fashionistas Dolls, separate Barbie, or the different playsets for specific careers your Barbie doll had. The Barbies were all wearing different types of clothing, with different hairstyles and different hair colors. Now, Barbie doll manufacturers have made dolls that are actually normal
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March of 1959. This brand of doll is representing of a slim, shapely young woman,
Girls around the world are already unsatisfied with their bodies, and if you add toys that are un-proportional and make the girls feel even worse about their bodies what do you get? You get people with eating disorders trying to make themselves skinner and people spending thousands of dollars on plastic surgeries. These girls are trying to make themselves look like something unreachable, just because they think there is only one way to be beautiful. When girls are young they are given these toys that bring them down, so why do we give them to our children? We shouldn’t and we can stop how this is happening, we need to get rid of Barbie dolls so girls don’t endanger themselves and always feel bad about their bodies.