For sure, little girls more often than not are prone to fantasize about their future and how they will turn out to be when they’re grown up. The future for each little girl is a world full of challenges, surprises and expectations, not to mention fear and excitement. In other words, the future is not yet seen in a girl’s mind but, she wants to get a glimpse of it, that is why, playing with dolls and girly items are a little girl’s attempts to fantasize or at least get an idea of what she will look like in the future. Thus, Barbie dolls are great for little girls to play with.
It’s all about nostalgia because girls love to talk about their most wanted toy when they were much younger then. They love to talk about their very own Barbie dolls in a Barbie world.
Barbie was invented and named after Barbara, the daughter of Ruth Handler who is the co-founder of Mattel. Barbie was first introduced in March 9, 1959 during an American Toy Fair in New York. That same date is also known as Barbie’s birthdate. Ruth Handler’s inspiration in creating Barbie originated from a German doll named Bild Lilli. During the 1950’s, most children's toy dolls were representations of infants so Handler suggested the idea of an adult-bodied doll. The first Barbie doll that was launched was wearing a black and white zebra striped swimsuit, a signature top-knot pony-tail and has a brunette or blonde hair colour. The Barbie was marketed as a “Teen-age Fashion Model” with her clothes designed and created by Charlotte Johnson, Mattel’s fashion designer. Barbie was marketed extensively via television and has been copied by other toys. Barbie was sold worldwide in over 150 countries and it was said that 3 Barbies were being sold every second (Barbie, n.d., par. 1...
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Works Cited
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-Bellis, M. (2004). The History of Barbies Dolls. Retrieved February 13, 2011
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-Pettersson E. & Burke, H. (2008, December 4) Mattel Wins Order Barring Sales of MGA Bratz Dolls (Update3). Retrieved February 16, 2011
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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a.ZaD149jqSk&refer=us
-Patten D. V. (2007, February 7). Bratz Dolls Beat Out Barbie In Sales For The 2006 4th Quarter. Retrieved February 16, 2011
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This website article provides the history of Barbie and her newly inspiring images for young women. Barbie was the new popular doll during World War 2 because she provided something inspiring for young girls and something that mothers felt strong about, independence. Barbie helped with what was being told to women, that they didn’t have to settle for being just a housewife or a stay at home mother. Women around the country could have a variety, a choice to work and have a career. “Barbie’s early professions were limited
For starters the title, “Barbie Doll” holds a meaning. It symbolizes the ideal figure of a female body. Society creates this ideal that is embed into every century. It is never ending. It is intended that she must have the twig like arms and legs, the minuscule waist and nose,
The little girls wanting Barbies with perfect outfits goes with the “ideal” image a girl should have at a young age. They are influenced by society to like playing with Barbies, to like the colour pink, to basically become a girl in society’s point of view. Cisneros is showing the development of children and how they’re made to play their roles in society. The author is trying to show how girls don’t really have a choice in how they’re guided towards liking “girl things”. The story shows the reality of women and how their opportunities are limited by things that are out of control like being born into poverty and have to live below an average lifestyle, “So what if our Barbies smell like smoke when you hold them up to your nose even after you wash and wash and wash them” (Cisneros, 1991, p.448). This pertains to the inequality in the work place, government, how some women are limited because of their gender and are prevented from becoming a successful
Bratz Dolls came about in 2001 by MGA Entertainment. The 4 dolls are Yasmin, Cloe, Jade, and Sasha. These dolls are known to be unrealistic, unproportional, and inappropriate depictions of young girls. The American Psychological Association feels that the Bratz doll could even be considered worse that the Barbie doll because of the clothes that Bratz dolls wear. The average consumer of a Bratz doll is a girl around the age of eight. Bratz dolls give young girls an impossible, extremely unrealistic idea of how they and all women should look to be successful.
(Steinberg: 271) Barbie is portrayed as this blonde perfect female and was made in the image of the perfect body type. Children idolize Barbie and the way she is advertised causes them to believe that your body is only supposed to look this way, everything is life is perfect and that they will not face any obstacles as life goes on. Steinberg mentions, “Thematically Mattel still hasn't invented the Homeless Barbie, the Abortion Barbie, the Alcoholic Barbie, or the S&M Bondage Barbie”. (Steinberg: 272) After reading this section I agreed with the statement “This Bitch Has Everything”. Mattel has painted a picture in the mind of young children that the perfect life can be created through their imagination and not that there are different paths that we all go through in life. Children lose their agency due to the fact that society has constructed and idea of what life is all about and children look to the media and the items around them for guidance and understanding of what is to be expected. Barbie creates the idea of what is the best and appropriate way to live your life as a
Martin, Melanie. “Negative Effects of Barbie on Girls.” eHow. Demand Media, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
Pollitt says, “This lady was at girl birthday party and she gave the girl a Barbie as a gift, but the birthday girl’s mother didn’t like that” (Pollitt 545). This quote explains that the mother of the birthday girl doesn’t want to enforce the gender issues with her daughter that is the reason why she dislikes the Barbie because it described a
The two girls seem to be demonstrating the need to conform to the pressures of society by the way they play with the barbies. After the girl explains the appearances of both barbies, she goes on to explain the same story they play over and over. One of the Barbies steals the other Barbie’s
Because girls are impressionable at all ages, Barbie targets young girls to fantasize about being perfect. Girls look at Barbie and believe they can obtain all of her attributes, while in reality that would be impossible. Having a goal to be an astronaut or pediatrician seems probable at young ages, but the image of Barbie and all of her successes are never a result of schooling, hardships, or any stresses that would face them today. A fantasy world is built up and is deemed probable because of the one-sided point of view of Barbie. Slumber Party Barbie was introduced in 1965 and came with a bathroom scale permanently set at 110 lbs with a book entitled: ‘How to Lose Weight” with directions inside simply stating ‘Don’t eat.’
In the short story "Barbie-Q,” by Sandra Cisneros, the young girls didn't mind they did not receive other things such as new Barbie's or Ken Barbie's and the friends to go along with the dolls (206). These girls were just happy to play with their own dolls. The girls have bonded with each other and they enjoy playing with each other's dolls. A doll brings two or more children together for fun and social entertainment. Have you ever listened to a child frequently you will hear a child say " so what” that means the child really don't care, it don't matter; nothing else mattered to the two little girls. In the short story "Barbie-Q,” by Sandra Cisneros to purchase a brand new Barbie doll meant that the dolls are expensive in the store so the girls are very happy and pleased to own a second hand Barbie. When the parent places the dolls in the child's hands the dolls take on the character of the owner's beauty; culture; how girls see themselves and the future when the kids are all grown up. Barbie is a fun toy to dress up. Each child has her or his own imagination of a Barbie doll. I, too, myself, like watching all the different cultural background Barbie dolls in the malls or Macy's Department Store around Christmas times. Most large department stores dress
Stone, Tanya Lee. The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie: A Doll's History and Her Impact on Us. New York: Penguin Group, 2010. Print.
There has always been controversy as to whether Barbie should be banned. Barbie dolls were created decades ago so little girls can play with them and relate to them somehow; therefore, Barbie should not be banned. Barbie dolls are good for society, little girls have understood diversity, and they enjoy playing with them; however drawbacks would be that some little girls do not have the maturity to appreciate the symbolic value of a Barbie doll, it has become an obsession to look like her and, she is not an appropriate role model.
One day, as Ruth Handler watched her daughter play with paper dolls, she noticed that often the dolls were put into adult scenarios, such as grocery shopping, working, et cetera (“The Creation of Barbie”). As most dolls in this era, the 1950’s, were either babies or small children, Handler got an idea: what if she created an adult doll (“The Creation of Barbie”)? So, she drew up a design for one, and she named her Barbie, after her daughter, Barbara (“The Creation of Barbie”). Then, in 1959, Mattel, a huge and very popular toy company, picked up the idea (“The Creation of Barbie”). Barbie made her first appearance in New York, at the annual toy fair (“The Creation of Barbie”). That year, 351,000 Barbie dolls were sold, which was a sales record in America (“The Creation of Barbie”). Today, Barbie continues to be the most popular doll in the world, with two sold every minute (“The Creation of Barbie”).
Barbie was first launched in March 1959, after Ruth Handler, president of Mattel, Inc., went on a trip to Europe and discovered a unique German doll, “Bild Lilli.” The aforementioned doll was special in that she was an adult, whereas man...
It may seem trivial and go unnoticed to most, but by assigning Barbie a real career, people are able to identify with and recognize her. The marketers also provide Barbie with a life other than modeling, such as friends and a home. The Ken doll, which is commonly known as Barbie’s boyfriend, makes her appear more real to the audience. Girls are able to identify with the idea of a boyfriend, which makes the notion of Barbie seem more realistic and desirable. The same idea is applied to the many friends Barbie has been accompanied by over the years. Lastly, and perhaps most famously, Barbie, like almost all of the girls who play with her, have a home. The Barbie Dream House is just another clever way her marketing team has presented her to society as a real person. Humanizing Barbie, and portraying her in such a manner makes her more attractive to potential buyers. The girls who engage in play with dolls do not want merely a doll; they desire something they can relate to and envision in the real world. Imaginative play is a large portion of childhood, and the ability for children to posses a doll like Barbie , who represents a real person in society, is extremely valuable. The use of social constructionism in the marketing of products such as Barbie is both brilliant and effective.