Mattel's Stereotypes

During the time of development and release of Barbie, the feminist movement was in full swing. The concept that Barbie may have been manufactured as a weapon against these feminist groups is plausible as the image of Barbie exploits the female body and challenges the values held by active feminists. Though, from a slightly different perspective, one could argue that Barbie with her freedoms and luxuries supports the ideals of women's equality and rights. Barbie may have been the transition piece of the decade, setting a new path for women and young girls.

As the dean of one of the three primary schools at UC Merced, I would like to address a concern as an incoming freshman. As a participant of this growing campus-building enterprise you may be aware of the hostility surrounding the three schools in this university. Students here affix themselves with others who have the same personal goals and interests in their career field, but they act indifferent to the rest. As a university, we should maintain a tranquil environment, in which no student should feel uncomfortable or disliked because of the school or major they are related to.

Everyday we see young girls look to idols such as people and even play toys. Such thoughts make young girls feel they are not good enough and to strive to look like a doll a very important topic is slightly broken down in an article written by Cynthia Tucker called Barbie Madness. While she touches on the topic of how kids love their toys such as Barbie dolls, she discusses how obsessed they become in looking like them. However, even though she points out that children look up to Barbies, she turns it back around on the parents, stating that they play a much bigger role in their lives than any toy would. Breaking down the article the writer really shows how children are influenced by their environment, their parents, and how its important to encourage them to be themselves.

As I was on the hunt for the perfect gift for an 8 year old’s birthday, I discovered the doll market is quite different than my coming of age. Undoubtedly, Barbie is still problematic, but now she has competitors, including Bratz, and Monster High dolls, who are noticeably thinner than barbie and dressed up to look like grown women getting ready for a night of clubbing than a game of tennis. As I pick up the first doll box, I find a doll chained up in a slither of clothing with a blank expression on her face, a prominent thigh gap, with the tagline “GREAT for girls ages 5 and up!” By all means, I never imagined in my life that I would miss Barbie. For that reason, I begin to sit myself down in the toy aisle to start googling everything I could about these dolls on my

Mattel’s Barbie have always faced problems with parents of the young children who play with Barbie such as lowering children’s self-esteem. Mattel tried to address the problem by creating three new body types for Barbie. The question that is relevant; does the original Barbie harms children’s self-esteem and will the new Barbie address the issue? My goal in this paper is to show evidences of Mattel’s Barbies affecting children’s self-esteem by connecting three main reasoning of how Barbie lowers self-esteem and also the opposing view beside Mattel.

1. Provide an analysis of the Mattel Barbie brand. What factors shape perceptions of the brand in the eyes of parents and young girls? Barbie was billed as “a shapely teenage fashion model,” and made her first appearance at the American Toy Fair in New York City and soon became a hit. (http://www.brandchannel.com/features_profile.asp?pr_id=160) Barbie was then and still is a popular doll for young girls. In the beginning she was popular because she was the 3D version of the very popular paper dolls, with interchangeable clothing and accessories. Today she is still very popular and probably for the same reasons; you can buy a variety of different dolls with different ethnicities, different

Barbie, at the age of 41, is one of the longest living toys in America. Analyzing her early history can give a person a look into the societal trends and culture of the late 1950's and early 1960's. There is evidence of fashion innovations in Barbie's wardrobe. Also, one can see the perception of females by society, such as what they should look like, how they should act and dress, as well as what their future goals could be. The following essay follows Barbie's history from 1959 to 1963, covering her development, her appeal to children, and her existence as a cultural artifact of the time period.

Young girls have been playing with Barbie dolls since the dolls inception at the American International Toy Fair in New York. Recently, researchers have been skeptical on whether the dolls have an effect on the self-image of girls who play with them. In order to determine if Barbies have an impact on young-girls self-concept, clinicians have carried out several studies where they monitor the interaction between the young girls and the famous figurine. From these experiments, scientists concluded that Barbies can have a bearing on a girls self-image, making the consumers who buy the doll more aware of the issue Barbie

In fact, the Barbie doll was so popular that three years after her release in 1959 Mattel was still filling orders from her first year (Long 17).

Since 1965, Barbie, and more recently, the Bratz line of dolls, have been the poster children for beauty, despite their grotesquely disproportionate appearance. Barbie and Bratz dolls were meant to represents average girls in their teen years tall, flowing hair and incredibly thin, a body image that is not possible for every girl, though Mattel’s slogan “Barbie can be anything! And so can you!” might suggest otherwise. For the company to insist young girls compare themselves to the piece of plastic that is a Barbie doll, is completely outrageous. Looking at the doll 's physical appearance, it 's clear that a real person could never embody this image. Breaking down the doll’s structure, there are feet readily bent for high heels, long muscular legs and thin arms, not to mention the fact that the head of a Barbie or Bratz doll exceeds the width of it 's waist! To even begin to entertain this image is unrealistic. What are we telling

Barbies have changed a lot over the years. Not just Barbies, but kids toys and dolls have made drastic improvements and advancements. The first toy can be traced back to ancient Greece in 10th century B.C. Dolls can be traced back even further. Since then, these plastic toys, specifically Barbies, have affected the body images of little girls. If Barbie was life size, she would be 5’9” and weigh only 110 pounds. Her body’s fat percentage would be so low that she wouldn’t be able to walk or even live a healthy life. Barbies are a positive and negative influence on young girls. She shows them that they can do whatever job they want, but on the other hand, she represents what our society thinks is the “perfect” body.

For opportunities, Barbie is a worldwide brand. So there is an opportunity for the company to use that reputation to increase its market share.

Barbie has been the main icon for many little girl all across the world. Barbie has the greatest impact on little girl because they often feel like they can’t live with a Barbie Doll. As a child, I could remember my cousin always talking about how Barbie was her role model and how she loved the clothes and shoes that Barbie was dressed in. So I would agree that the image of Barbie has been one that little girls have looked up too during their childhood. The Barbie does have good, yet bad effects on little girls. The good effects are that the Barbie dolls represents a symbol of equality and empowerment. This is done through the maker (Ruth Handler) who was the entrepreneur of the whole enterprise, and put the doll in place for equal pay for

However Barbie’s popularity is far from just being restricted to a quantitative multimillionaire industry. She has emerged as an Icon in Popular culture, an icon that is seen as the barometer of attitudes towards

Mattel’s iconic and best-selling brand is The Barbie. Introduced in 1959 as “The Teenage Fashion Model,” Barbie allowed girls to experience fashion and to explore various dreams, fantasies and aspirations without ever leaving home. Because of the introduction of the television in the 1950 's, companies discovered a new consumer audience among children and teenagers. The post-war era saw a strong economy advancing the middle class suburban families. Now, buying toys became a year round business versus holiday or luxury items.