February 4, 2016

ME AND BARBIE


We've posted another great story from June.  Given all the hoopla about the "new" Barbie, we thought it was time to set the record straight.

Recently Mattel announced that they were making Barbie look more like the way the real world looks in skin color, eyes, hair, body build and size.  This is a welcome change, but why did it take so long?

In the early 1980s, Mattel hired a group of 10 consultants across the nation to give them advice about their toys and products. I was among these "experts" and it was a very interesting experience for me.  In those days the social media did not exist and children did play with dolls; Apple was something you ate rather than text on.

After weeks of examining and talking about the products, our group came to the unanimous decision to recommend that Mattel change Barbie and Ken into more recognizable dolls that would more reflect the children's real-life
world.  We felt that Barbie and Ken were models that were not desirable:
too thin, too blond; too everything!

In order to try to reduce our animosity, Mattel introduced a new line of doll called Hals' Pals.  These were very expensive handicapped dolls (which did not catch on as a mass-produced product...they had to be  mail -ordered and were not very accessible). I was asked to write an introductory piece to accompany the dolls.

Our group persisted in our recommendation to send Barbie and Ken to the operation-room for a make-over.  And it was then I first was touched by
the words of Donald Trump:  You (We) Are Fired!

The image of Donald Trump reminds me of that old Barbie: blond, pumped-up and stupid!!!


http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mattel-barbie-20160128-story.html                       http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-daum-curvy-barbie-20160204-20-column.html 


No comments:

Post a Comment