I'm a Barbie Girl, in a Barbie World
Growing up, I was obsessed with Barbies. If at any time in my childhood, you were to walk downstairs to my sister’s and my playroom, it was usually a mess with Barbie houses, Barbie clothes, and Barbie cars. I had the Barbie workout video, Barbie Fashion Designer on CD-ROM, and even a Barbie jeep. For this reason, I decided to take a tour of Barbie.com.
Upon entering the site, you are surrounded by bright colors and music. There are a variety of different things that you can do on the website: shop, play games, and chat and sing along with Barbie. There are several types of Barbies available on the website: Barbie Divas, Fashion Fever, Fairytopia, Beach fun, Princesses, and Forever Barbie. There are a few different races for sale including white, black, and Hispanic. There are also a variety of Ken dolls.
One aspect of the Barbie world that I like is that Mattel is featuring dolls that teach young children to be who they want to be. Barbie can be a vet, a photographer, a teacher, etc. Some things that I found less amusing were how the main color used was pink and how such an emphasis was put on fashion. Also there weren’t any items that would appeal to a little boy. Sure, there were Ken dolls, but there weren’t any “boy� accessories or games to play. Also, the vast majority of the Barbie dolls were white and appeared to be members of the rich, upper class. What kind of message is this sending to little girls who don’t have money and aren’t white?
I agree that Mattel needs to create more of a diverse group of Barbies. There should be a doll representing every different ethnic group so that no little girl or boy is left out. Also, they could create more dolls that would appeal to the male sex. Personally though, I don’t see a whole lot wrong with Barbies. Growing up I didn’t feel like I had to compare myself to Barbie, I just played for fun, which is something that I think most little girls/boys who play with Barbies do too.