Barbied Dreams, Barbied Lives: On our backs, in the attics of our memories, on the shelves

Year 2013, Volume: 6 Issue: 2, 18 - 37, 30.05.2016

Hande Bilsel Engin

Abstract

Over the course of 1980s, Barbie has become a fashion model, a collector's fetish and an object of collective and personal memory as well as that of desire. As a skinny, white and blond glossy figure, Barbie, an icon of femininity to generations of American and America-following nation of little girls. She is also multiethnic and straight- or so says Mattel Barbie's manufacturer. This study elaborates on a few questions such as: Why do particular cultural products become the bearers of so much meaning for so many people? What about Barbie, as opposed to other dolls, toys, books or games, makes her so important? How much can cultural producers direct consumption? How much do children follow cues from Mattel as they play with and think about Barbie? To what extent does Barbie’s popularity come from the doll itself rather than from Mattel’s successful marketing strategies? In this light, corporate marketing strategies used to recreate Barbie's versatile but nonetheless premolded and still predominantly white image have been put under analysis. The study also tries to tackle how pre-teen girls interact with and within the world of Barbie through participant observation in their games and try to read this context by also making reference to its global marketing strategies.

Keywords

Consumerism, Tween Marketing, Icons of Femininity, Cultural Emperialism

References

• Cannon, Jeffrey (2011) “Barbie as Feminine Icon: The Subversion Narrative Gets a Second Run on Film” Communication and Mass Media Complete, EBSCO, pp. 1-22.
• Hall, Stuart. (1979) “Culture, the Media and the Ideological Effect” In 1. Curran, M. Gurevitch, & J. Woollacott (eds.) Mass Communication and Society (pp. 315-348). Beverly Hills: Sage.
• Hebdige, Dick. (1984) Subculture: The Meaning of Style, London: Routledge.
• Lewin-Jones, Jenny & Barbara Mitra. (2009) "Gender Roles in Television Commercials and Primary School Children in the UK” Journal of Children & Media 3.1, pp. 35-50.
• Lord, M.G. (1995) Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll. New York: Avon Books.
• Procter, James. (2004) Stuart Hall, London: Routledge Critical Thinkers.
• Rand, Erica. (1995) Barbie's Queer Accessories, Durham: Duke University Press.
• Rogers, Mary. (1999) Barbie Culture, California: Sage.
• Rose, Gilian. (2001) Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to the Internpretation of Visual Materials, California: Sage. http://shop.mattel.com/shop/index.jsp?categoryId=3719989.
• Wolf, Naomi. (1991) The Beuty Myth: How Images of Beuty are Used Against Women, New York: W.Morrow.
• Wanless, Mary Dorsey. “Barbie's Body Images.” Feminist Media Studies 1.1 (2001): 125-127. www.mattel.com