The Mattel Barbie Doll

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Recommended: The Good the Bad and the Barbie: A Doll's History and Her Impact on Us

Behind the magic of Barbie’s creation.

The holiday season is fast approaching and the list for children to buy for is long.

Strolling down the Toys ‘R Us toy aisle, I find it hard to miss

what is in every typical North American toy store: Mattel’s Barbie dolls. A plastic doll

with clothes; it appears simple enough but not quite. From its conception in California,

to it being manufactured in China, to it being shipped to the local Toys ‘R Us store in

Vancouver, the Barbie doll sitting on a toy store shelve has undergone numerous social

and geographical processes involved in its production before it will reach into the hands

of my excited nine year old cousin on Christmas morning. With over one hundred and

fifty new models of Barbie dolls released onto the global market per year (Enriquez), the

web of relations among factories, shipping companies, toy distributors, Mattel offices and

etc. for the production and consumption of Barbie dolls are numerous. To date, over half

a billion Barbie’s have been sold in more than one hundred and forty countries. Each

week, Mattel sells over 1.5 million dolls; two dolls per second are sold (Toys and Games:

Barbie Dolls). The sheer number of Barbie dolls sold is an indication of the on-going ties

and involvement between Mattel’s Head Office management, the factories and its

workers hired to produce the Barbie dolls, the retail distributors, the consumers, and

everybody else in between the Commodity chain of Barbie’s creation to its consumption.

The first step in the commodity chain of Barbie is simply the conception of the

doll itself and the creation of what it will look like. The production of Barbie begins in

the ...

... middle of paper ...

...ty.org/campaigns/toy/barbie_factorx.htm>.

Foek, Anton. “Sweatshop Barbie: exploitation of Third World labor”. The Humanist 57.1

(1997) 9-14.

Ken & Barbie’s Sweatshop. 20 Dec. 2001. Now Toronto. 20 Nov. 2005

< http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2001-12-20/news_insight.html>.

The Creation of a Barbie. Lewis and Clark College. 20 Nov. 2005

< http://www.lclark.edu/~soan221/97/Barbie5.html>.

Toys and Games: Barbie Dolls. 1996-2005. The History Channel. 20 Nov. 2005

< http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/toys/barbie.html>.

Victoria International Development Education Association. “Barbie’s Trip Around the

World: Globalization in the Toy Industry.” Global Citizens For A Global Era 1.2

(2000) 1-23.

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