Barbie takes over....everything?

So there's been signs up in my neighborhood advertising some kind of Barbie festival. A friend of mine explained to me that a new gallery shop owner on our street is putting on this street fair, to market his new gallery and because his partner is the head designer for Barbie (by Matel). My friend is participating in this Barbie design contest... you get a Barbie and make her into anything you want.... So I decided to participate as well. Ideas have been flying through my mind, yesterday I decided I was going to flake out, today I'm back in,... etc. etc. I was doing some online investigation, and I saw this story which I found very interesting.

Tattoo Barbie, Pregnant Barbie, Trashy Barbie-Ban Barbie Once and For All

Tattoo Barbie? But of course there’s now a tattoo Barbie! Totally Pierced Barbie is sure to be next on Mattel’s list of upcoming toys coming soon to a toy store near you! It was just a matter of time before Barbie doll maker Mattel would introduce Totally Stylin’ Tattoo Nikki, Barbie’s brunette friend and counterpart, as part of their new spring line of Barbie dolls. Mattel’s excuse for marketing a doll that comes with tattoo stickers is to just help girls “express themselves and be creative” and to “keep up with the changing times” we’re living in.

Tattoo Barbie comes supplied with tattoo stickers for herself and 40 temporary tattoos for Barbie-loving kids to put on themselves, with the help of a water gun for easy application of the tattoos to children’s skin. But wait! This isn’t the first time Mattel has marketed a tattoo Barbie doll, and it’s not the first time there has been a Barbie doll controversy brewing, that leaves parents wondering if this nonsense will ever end.

Back in 1999, Mattel introduced its first tattoo Barbie by the name of “Butterfly Art Barbie”, with a large butterfly tattoo covering her mid-drift area, which also came with tattoos for children. Butterfly Art Barbie was yanked from toy store shelves after four months due to a storm of controversy by outraged parents.

The Sexualization of Children

Mattel is either not paying attention or doesn’t care about the growing concern over the sexualization of children in today’s society, and how their continued efforts to market inappropriate toys to children is harming kids. This new Barbie with all her tattoos is a big hit amongst clueless parents, with some stores being completely sold out of the tattoo-stamped doll, while informed parents are furious and demanding that Barbie be banned.

It wasn’t long ago that “Pregnant Barbie” was banned and removed from store shelves, although that doll was Barbie’s married friend Midge, pregnant with her second child. Pregnant Barbie came with a detachable tummy where the doll’s baby should be, and this doll also become a big hit amongst little girls, and parents were all too willing to buy into the targeted marketing of inappropriate toys for their children.

Media efforts to sexualize children and turn young girls into little Lolita’s is very real in our society, and toy makers and marketers continue to target young girls and boys with their ideas of fun toys for kids, regardless of the harmful effects brought on by inappropriate clothes and toys made for children.

Parents, if you really want your daughter to grow up dressing and acting like a two-cent skank, keep on buying your little girls street-walker Bratz dolls, push-up bras, thongs, “eye candy” panties, mini or micro-mini skirts, sequined crop-tops and other hooker-style “fashionable” outfits, and the trouble you’re having with your daughter will be unlike anything you could have imagined.

Go ahead, turn a blind eye and claim that Tattoo Barbie, Pregnant Barbie, Bratz dolls and the inappropriate clothes and toys you’re buying for your kids, or the trashy stuff you’re allowing others to give your kids, doesn’t have any effect on the clothes teens and adults choose to wear as they get older or how your kids turn out. But then again, even very young children as young as three or four years old are being allowed to wear these types of clothes. Be forewarned: You shall reap what you sow.

At least some of us are paying close attention to the crap manufacturers and marketers are constantly trying to shove down our throats, while they continue to line their own pockets with your hard-earned money, while at the same time your kids are suffering the harmful effects of the sexualization of children in society today.

Similar Posts:

The Sexualization of Children and Adolescents Epidemic
Miley Cyrus AKA Hanna Montana Going Topless For Vanity Fair
So Sexy, So Soon: The Sexualization of Childhood in Commercial Culture
Will Christmas Be Ruined For Children This Year?
Beyonce’s House of Dereon: Sexualizing Children


...Fuck. Pretty serious. After seeing this article, I was inspired to read some of the similar posts. Miley Cirus (age 15), topless in Vanity Fair... totally ridic. Reading all of this definitely makes me think about what my stance would be as a parent, or what my stance is now just as a responsible adult... and I guess as a fashion industry professional. Its all pretty trippy.

Regardless... this Barbie project is an ADULT ART EXPRESSION, not to be seriouslly marketed. My themes (which will go unspoken until project completion!) will be purely for entertainment and thought prevoking reasons only... my plan is to be clever and well executed, nothing more. But still a very interesting topic to spawn otu of simply Googling "Barbie".