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By
1958 Mattel had become a leading maker of action
toys for boys and saw Lili as a perfect way
to even the market and collect more parents'
money. After buying all rights to Lili and various
studies of the market, they transformed blonde
sexpot Lili into brunette Barbie, the paradigm
for little girls. In a study where 100 mothers
and daughters were shown the Barbie separately,
nearly all the mothers said that the Barbie
Dolls were too mature looking and didn't want
their children playing with them (let alone
buying them). Nearly all of the girls in the
study said that they loved the doll and wanted
to own one.
So Barbie was put on the market and set several
sales records still unparalleled. The Mattel
people attribute the success to (great marketing
and) the need of little girls to play with a
symbol of themselves in the future, and not
just with baby dolls, which train them to be
mothers. Barbie allows children to dream about
becoming teenagers and going out and wearing
stylish clothing. They marketed her as the super
model who has everything that little girls should
want: fame, wealth, attention. Successful gimmick,
obviously.
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ORIGIN
OF KEN
Only after realizing the popularity of the Barbie
wedding dress did Mattel think about designing
an escort. Then came the problem... Should he
have genitals? After much deliberation, they
decided to have the male be perpetually wearing
non-removable shorts, under which would be a
"properly placed" bulge. Due to a mix-up in
a the factory in Tokyo, Ken became castrated
and thus even more wimpy and androgynous.
To Mattel, Barbie is a Cinderella success story
for child marketing. It is a testament to the
influence children can have over their parents'
wallets and opened a new target audience. To
feminists Barbie is a tangible representation
of the sexism of society. To little girls and
boys, who knows? It may not be the teenage role
model that Mattel assumes it is, or have the
effect that feminists fear, but for some reason
it is an extremely popular toy.
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