Mattel 's Iconic And Best Selling Brand

The object under consideration is the barbie doll. A barbie doll is a toy for children who have moved on from developmental toys to more sophisticated toys. Barbie doll fit an unrealistic size and shape figured doll that kids can play with in various ways. They can play dress up and do different things due to barbie having multiple careers paths she is able to take. It does promote a positive image to young girls because it promotes the idea that you can be anything you want to be, however, it still plants the idea of an unrealistic body image. Barbie is slender and tall and barbie dolls do not deviate from thing and this is problematic because it creates a certain kind of standard young girls begin to believe in.

Picture yourself as the ‘perfect’ woman. Embodying every woman’s dream. You are undeniably gorgeous, weighing in at 100 pounds, standing 6 feet tall and holding nearly 150 careers (barbiemedia.com). Yes, this is the beloved, ever so ‘inspirational’ childhood toy, the perfectly perfect Barbie Doll. Barbie is America’s most beloved toy, considering young girls between the ages of three and eleven own at least 10 Barbie’s throughout their childhood (‘Life in Plastic’). As creator of the Barbie Doll once said, “My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be. Barbie always represented that a woman has choices,” (Handler). However, Barbie has proved to serve the opposite effect and

Barbie has become one of the best selling toy brands in the world helping Mattel become one of the largest toy makers. Mattel has had much success with it popular Barbie dolls for over fifty years. However it seems every product has a life cycle and in recent years Barbie has begun to decline in popularity due to recent technological trends and stiff competition. Today young girls have become more interested in mp3 players and ipods rather than playing with dolls. At home and abroad competitors are producing new doll with different characteristics that persuade consumers to purchase these products over Barbie. Competitors have begun stealing significant market share away from Mattel who depends on Barbie for 20 percent

In 1959, Barbie was introduced wearing a black-and-white bathing suit, open-toed shoes, sunglasses, gold hoop earrings, and her hair (sold as either blonde or brunette) was contained in a ponytail. She had high arched eyebrows, a coy sideways glance, plump pursed red lips, and a model-esque figure (narrow waist and hips, long legs, ivory skin, etc.), and throughout the 1960s Barbie’s legs became bendable, her waist became twistable, she got new wigs, a wardrobe mirroring First Lady Jackie Kennedy’s, and a younger looking face. Throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s, Barbie followed the popular fashion trends including long straight hair and loose flowing clothing in the 1970’s, and sun streaked hair, and shoulder pads, big belts, and leggings, all neon of course, in the 1980’s. In the 1990’s Barbie’s shoulder pads and facial features stayed the same, but her hair became a lot bigger (perms, teased bangs, etc.), and her style was a new, sassy and edgy street-fashion look, and in 1998 a doll with a wider waist and smaller bust was introduced, but in the year 2000 Barbie changed. Her hair became long and loose, her makeup became more natural looking, Barbie’s physique became more athletic with her flexible waist and belly button, and her style went along with global fashion trends and stick-on fashion jewels were introduced so that girls could

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

Not only the measurements are what seems to be achieving this “perfect look”, but also her big, glossy, blue eyes, long blonde hair, and porcelain lips. Her ‘walking Barbie’ features gives her Internet popularity, but several people are taken by surprise by her physical

As American societies’ problems continue to pullulate burdens on her children consequently, American girls at the age of six starts to emphasize a relation to self-awareness towards their body weight. Specifically, forty to sixty percent of girls who have aged between six and twelve express a deep concern towards their current body image or their possible future weight gain. Consumers have criticized companies like Mattel over the years for their Barbie line of products above all; perpetuate female phantasm of perfection, which is physically unattainable. As a result of this, Mattel has given their Barbie dolls a makeover which includes four different body shapes, seven different skin colors, twenty-two eye colors, and twenty-four hairstyles in addition to this, Barbie also have optional accessories such as laptops and I pads and careers such as president/vice president and video game developer which have historically been male-dominated professions. As was previously stated, Mattel's evolution of the Barbie does show progress for the company in the coming years but on the condition that Mattel actually is fixing the issue of gender objectification that

Barbie’s body size in real life would stand six feet tall, weigh 100 pounds, have a thirty-nine-inch bust, a nineteen-inch waist, and the hips of a prepubescent boy (Olson). Normally, her body measurements should already make her physically incapable. However, the public’s idealization continuously ignores this reality and sticks to fantasy only to satisfy what everyone wants to see. Young girls grew up, and their body measurements did not come nearly as close to Barbie’s figure as their own physical appearance would let them. A typical American woman would have to undergo excessive beauty rituals, extreme body exercises, unhealthy diets, and even unnecessary surgeries to achieve the figure Barbie presents.

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,

It wasn’t until the late 1960’s that critics began “comparing Barbie to a Playboy Bunny and calling her a corrupter of youth” (”Bad Girl” 3). One woman commented, “She’s an absurd representation of what a woman should be” (“Bad Girl” 3)-–and that’s exactly what many others thought she was, too. With such impossible real-life measurements of 5’9” tall, 36”-18”-33” bust, waist, and hip (Benstock and Ferriss 35), it’s easy to see why mothers across the country banned the doll from their homes and refused to let their impressionable young daughters be influenced by a piece of painted plastic (Bestock and Ferriss 35). Since dolls have often been responsible for teaching children what society deems important or beautiful, many concerned parents wondered why Mattel did not design a doll that taught more valuable lessons than dressing pretty and being dangerously skinny (Edut 19)? Who said a runway model was best suited for teaching a child what is beautiful anyway? “According to a Mattel spokesperson, a Kate Moss figure is better suited for today’s fashions” (Edut 19), and that is one reason why Barbie must be so disproportional. Actually, another reason for Barbie’s anorexic figure can be traced back long before Kate Moss and the fashion runway. Barbie was

Barbies have been around for years they are someting people can colect and little girls can play with them.The name and Author of this particular article Barbie is getting a new look and the author is Joseph Pisani he talks about how mattel inc is creating barbies that have feet that move so you can put flat shoes on and heels.It also staits that barbies come in different skin colar and different eye color.These new barbies also come taller,more curvey and petite.The mattel inc is also keeping regular barbies.The new body types where in for 2 years.

For many years, Barbie was a symbol for the ideal (and frankly unrealistic) “perfect” woman. Michael Pearson states, “Girls and women don’t come in one shape, and now, finally, Barbie won’t either”. Barbie will have 3 new body types, which means the doll will be more appealing to girls of all sizes. Also, young girls will now have access to more realistic representations of women. “According to Mattel, Barbie will now come in four body types and seven skin tones, with 22 eye colors and 24 hairstyles” (Pearson).

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.

Not only has Mattel messed up by having Barbie disproportional, but it has taken its toll on many men and women around the globe. Barbie has been blamed for damaging body images. Ruth Handler even states that Barbie was produced to bump up the self-esteem of women and girls, not tear them apart (Albers). Barbie has been frowned upon by mothers because of her large breasts of the doll, but no one ever seems to mention that in the 1950’s this is what the standard doll looked like! It has taken Mattel 60+years to change the proportions of Barbie and her friends. In 2016 they finally came out with tall, petite, and curvy body styles to appeal to everyones body image. Only about one in 100,000 women actually match the original Barbie measurements, not to mention the wanna be Barbies. The wanna be Barbie girls not only messed up their bodies physically, but also mentally. Men and women are both getting plastic surgeries that include ribs being taken out, lip procedures, abs/ breast enhancers. Not only does this look ridiculous compared to the average person, but undergoing that many procedures has a mental effect. some of these procedures cost about $50,000 just for ribs to be taken out (Barbie and Body Image). On the other hand, children don't know any better. They see these dolls as toys. Children aren't necessarily looking at the disproportions

Others felt that they should consider Indonesia as a way to take advantage of low labor costs and very attractive exchange rates. Mattel currently operated a plant in Indonesia that produced Barbie® dolls. Montalto had to decide whether Mattel should go forward with the new China plant, build a plant in Malaysia or Indonesia, expand one of the existing facilities, or outsource the surplus die-cast volume through VOA. Company Background Based in California, Mattel, Inc designed, manufactured, and marketed a broad variety of toy products. The company’s core product lines included Barbie fashion dolls, Hot Wheels die- cast toy vehicles, Cabbage Patch Kids, Fisher-Price preschool toys, and Disney toys. Most of these toys were made overseas, primarily in southeast Asia. Mattel had wholly owned manufacturing facilities in China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Mexico, and Italy. Mattel was founded in 1944 by Elliot and Ruth Handler. Neither Elliot nor Ruth had much business experience or capital, but they both had dreams. The post World War II demographics of a huge baby boom plus a virtually toyless marketplace provided a unique opportunity to gain a place in a growing toy market. Mattel’s first products, simple picture frames and doll house furniture, met with mixed success. The first really big hit was a music box. By partnering with another toy inventor, they developed a music box that could be