Monday, March 14, 2016

The World of the Barbie

Every little girl in the United States is at one time or another exposed to an image that influences what they think of themselves. One of the more common images available to young children in our society is the Barbie doll. For years, there have been psychology reports that turned into news stories about how bad Barbie dolls are for a girl's image of herself.

Recently, the media has taken note of the highly publicized efforts of the Mattel company to vary the image of the Barbie doll. They now offer "tall, curvy and petite" versions of Barbie. Not to mention, they now come in seven skin tones with twenty two eye colors and twenty four hairstyles.

"Playtime could broaden kids' perspectives and ideas of what is 'good' when it comes to body image, as new, diverse toys come onto the market," a sociologist reports to livescience.com.

However, I believe that the company's products are contradictory to their efforts. They have good intention, but they've missed the mark somewhat in their final results. I concede that the dolls are a step in the proper direction, but they still fail to produce a truly healthy body image. (with the exception of "curvy Barbie", whose body is the closest to looking like a real woman that I've seen)

The unhealthiness of the dolls still lies in their excessive makeup use and their continued impossible waistlines, just as it did with the under diversified Barbie doll. In fact, in the picture below, three of the four dolls sport waists that are likely modeled after the sixteen inch original. Although, one is questionably smaller.

These body images do not relflect the average American woman, and, therefore, they do not present healthy reality to children. A short time ago, the Huffington Post published a report titled Barbie Would Be Pretty Odd Looking in Real Life to compare the measurements of a Barbie doll to a real woman, revealing that some of the doll's measurements were under half that of the American woman. Once again, with the exception of "curvy Barbie," Mattel has hardly curtailed the design that influences some young girls to develop eating disorders in later life. If anything, these dolls are a failed attempt to put the toy company into a better light in the public.

Barbie dolls may be moving in the right direction, but they still appear in the form of unrealistic and unhealthy fantasies. While I encourage this sort of intention and effort, I hardly think that this progress is enough. Mattel needs to respect their consumers through a product that will reflect their consumers. Otherwise, the company is virtually disregarding its own future and that of the girls who fall under their influence.



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