Barbie's New Look
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Barbie celebrated her 50th anniversary in 2009, so you might think she would be slowing down or at least toning it down, but apparently not. The latest release is a limited edition Barbie by Italian brand Tokidoki, which sees the much-loved doll with a more contemporary style. This iteration of Barbie shows her with a fabulously styled pink hair do along with tattooed arm, neck and chest, a barely there bright pink mini skirt, leopard print leggings and sky high sparkly heels.
It would seem that the doll has caused fury with parents who were outraged, as they believed it sent a message to children endorsing tattoos.
There was also the usual furore about unrealistic body proportions etc. and there was commentary from Professor Joel Bakan, the author of ‘Childhood Under Siege’, who said “This is a calculated attempt to play on young girls' natural desire to appear older. This is something to be resisted." He also noted (rather observantly) the fact that the ‘Tokidoki’ label appears on Barbie’s bag, which, he says, incites children to become “walking billboards”.
And yet most surprising, to me anyway, is that there seemed to be little worry about her controversially-titled pet companion, Bastardino. Apparently Italian artist Simone Legno and his art brand Tokidoki which is by all accounts taking the world by storm has created The Cactus Friends featuring three adorable characters of which Bastardino is the prickly pooch in the series. Bastardino?? Really? Is it just me that thinks this is going to be a difficult one to explain to Grandma at Christmas, when little Mary screams for her Bastardino? No? Obviously just me then.
Anyway, back to Barbie, this isn’t the first time that Mattel have been in choppy waters for what people consider to be less than acceptable toys for their kids. In 1999, they were forced to withdraw their Butterfly Art Barbie after receiving thousands of complaints about her tattoos (although they grew tougher with their Totally Stylin' Tattoos Barbie, released 10 years later which sold through the roof in spite of public opinion).
Given that the doll (costing $50) has already sold out in the US for the next month, this ‘limited’ edition might not be so limited after all, and with Mattel responding to critics saying "Barbie has sported an endless array of styles", it’s not likely she’ll be off the market any time soon. And based on that, perhaps you should probably talk to Santa about pre-ordering at some stage. Or not.
