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Barbie Mania

Did you know that every second two Barbie dolls are sold around the world? According to Wikipedia, Barbie Doll is a 1.9 dollar-billion a year industry, with Mattel claiming that three Barbie dolls are sold every second.”If all the Barbies are sold during the past four decades were lined up head to toe, they could reach around the world more than seven times” (Sund, 2001).For some, Barbie is just a toy but for others, they see Barbie as a plastic titillating toy that corrupts every girl’s mind and encourages them to worry about what they would look like. Barbie indeed influences girls to develop real-life messages of empowerment and aspiration but still, depicts the damaging ideal of women in the society.

Barbie Millicent Roberts is the real name of one of the most successful and enduring toys on the market, Barbie. She was created by Eliot Handler, the founder of Mattel Inc. together with his wife Ruth Handler who was inspired to name the doll after their daughter’s name, Barbara. Over the years, Barbie’s voluptuous figure has sparked controversy.”If she were alive, she would be a woman standing 7 feet tall with a waistline of 18 inches and a bustling of 38-40 inches. In fact, she would need to walk on all four just to support her peculiar proportions” (Mitrani, 2006). Critics have complained that Barbie’s measurements are exaggerated and that with her waist so small and breast so large, a woman with the same measurements would not be able to stand. There is a great fear that girls may begin to think that they should look like Barbie and their idea of beauty is being molded of the dolls incredibly thin and unnatural shape. Should we blamed Barbie or is she just an innocent toy who feeds children’s imaginative minds?

There are lots of things to consider on Barbie’s issue and controversy. First, Barbie promotes self-confidence. She encourages girls to have the feeling they could do anything or be anyone they wanted to be. The idea of Barbie on different career fields and her portrayal of being independent gal empowers little girls to have an identity filled with infusing self-esteem. On the other hand, Barbie could promote the girls to become insecure about their image. Barbie’s distorted proportions make girls feel inadequate when they come to realize they can never attain them. “Barbie becomes an emblem of frustration and disappointment because of the inability to complete”. (Schank and Todorova, 1999).

The instigation of child’s imagination is yet another aspect of Barbie that many praise. The said doll encourages the expansion of a girl’s imagination and creativity through the process of fore-playing – making preparations to play where a child may learn to have control of complex situations, planning ahead and organizing details along with enhanced imaginative abilities. Barbie can nurture cognitive abilities simply with the intricacy and detail involves in playing with her. But more than that, Barbie can present false ideal for girls. “Barbie’s curvaceous, big-busted; almost full bodied that summons not the material but the sensual, not the nurturing mother but the sensuous woman”. ( Schank and Todorova,1999).

In this case, instead of learning to accept their own beauty, girls are revelling in constructed and unreal beauty. Because of her package, Barbie teaches girls the skills by which their future success will be measured on: purchased of the proper high – status goods, popularity with the peer’s creation of correct personal appearance and the visible achievement of fun through appropriate leisure activities.

Many also perceived that Barbie is just a simple plastic toy that inspires women to get fit and look good. It shows that woman in whatever career they will take, they are still deserved to have a desirable body and elegant looks. On the contrary, according to a research conducted from two British universities claim that Barbie dolls contributed to eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia nervosa. (Dobson,2006).The study found that the Barbie dolls, which are fat thinner than traditional body shapes particularly at the waist make girls want to be unrealistically slim when they grow up.According to Helga Dittman, a professor in psychology at Sussex University, the ultra thin images not only lowered young girl’s body esteem but also decreased their satisfaction with their actual body size, making them desire more for a thinner body.

Mattel Inc. particularly Barbie has been in the Market history for almost 50 years. Pulling Barbie out of the industry is really impossible. I suggest that Barbie’s physical aspects should be changed to more realistic proportions. There’s nothing wrong in aiming to be beautiful and a more desirable body but everything has a limit. Mattel Inc. should be aware of every toy that they produce. We can still enhance child’s imaginations through practical means and less of unnecessary accessories which Mattel should incorporate with Barbie.

Although Barbie can help build confidence, can expand child’s imagination or inspires women to get fit and look good, still this blond, long-legged and doe-eyed doll is not a good role model for children because it promotes false and nearly impossible natural body images. It does not promote the idea of being independent nor as an intelligent woman. Considering Barbie’s exaggerated hour-glass figure, it can create a sense of insecurity towards their physical image. Aside from it, Barbie portrays false idea of womanhood. The doll is viewed as a sex symbol being marketed to children at their very young age. Lastly, the most alarming thing is that her standard of beauty and health lead many girls down to a path of eating disorders in their attempt to maintain such standards of perfection.

Lyn Gerardo