To think that Barbie advert can piss off?

[TammySwansonTwo]

Starts with a small girl giving a lecture to a room full of adults, then switches to showing her actually playing with barbies. Then says something about how when you're playing with Barbie you can be anything you want to be.

Huh, really? Like something other than an anatomically inaccurate sexualised image of a woman? DFOD.

Anyone seen it?

Sloe, I've no objection to Barbie being pretty, but the weird long legs and titchy waist are giving girls the message, at a very young age, that this is what they should aspire to - that the fab career isn't enough, they can be an astronaut and have legs upto their chins. On their own they are just a doll, but they are part of the wider message that kids absorb.
It's true that male dolls are also beautiful, but historically boys/men don't get quite the same emphasis in life about appearance that girls do. Actually, I think that's changing but not in the way it should - instead of telling our kids that beauty is not of primary importance, society is now telling boys as well as girls that it is.

My dd plays with baby dolls and the chad valley ones that look like little girls. I never banned Barbies but she wasn't that fussed, so I ducked dealing with that one.

I personally worry more about the photoshopping of real actresses on the cover of magazines and the effect that has on young girls. As a child it took ages to dawn on me that no one could really look like that because I thought 'well those are real women?'

^^ is what we should be talking to our girls &boys about

I agree with the op.

I think that if the images girls use to imagine themselves as women are physically unrealistic and heavily sexualized, then it will encourage feeling of unhappiness with their own bodies.

I am surprised that other posters consider the only alternative to the wildly unrealistic idea of Barbie is "ugly dolls". Can realistically proportioned women (possibly not in high heels) not be pretty?

The thing is, I don't think you can separate Barbie from photoshopping, from the way baby girls are spoken about vs boys,, about appearance being prioritised etc.

It has nothing whatsoever with the assumption that beautiful women can't be smart or successful. I don't believe that at all. I do however know many women who are massively successful but still feel that this is undermined by their perception that they're not attractive enough, while I know relatively few women who are beautiful but don't feel their successful enough.

Thanks Stompy - surprised that this is such a controversial opinion!

But I think girls can play with these kind of dolls and not be intimidated by her massive boobs or uberlong legs though.

Can realistically proportioned women (possibly not in high heels) not be pretty?

Yes, they can.

Can women with long legs and tiny waists not be smart?

Barbie

Barbie dolls aren't just tall and skinny anymore.

Nothing to do with intimidation. It's about the regularity of the messages being sent. I mean really, how many women do you know that don't have body confidence issues at all? We can just laugh off the idea that something like dolls can play a role in that, or actually explore it.

But again, this is beside the point - my issue was with the hypocrisy of the advert, not a campaign to ban Barbie which obviously I'd never support. I'd have far less of an issue with Barbie at all if it didn't exist within a culture of the objectification of girls and women, but it does.

I don’t think it’s hypocritical.

Why won't you explain what you mean by "sexualised" OP

Well you’ve got boys OP so I don’t know what the problem is. You don’t have to buy your boys Barbie. Why all the angst?! I will def be getting my daughter a barbie - because I grew up playing with barbie. And guess what - I’m not pretty or have a small waist like her but I’ve never been intimidated by her - she was just someone to play pretend with and dress up. She is just a DOLL and my daughter will know that.

It pisses me right off that all the focus is on diversifying girls' toys (usually into traditionally masculine fields) but there is no call for toys that encourage nurturing and creativity in boys. Equality and choice should go both ways.

You are making this an issue and I don’t even know why?! I find it quite odd I must admit.

I personally have no body issues I once told another woman this in RL she said you obviously don't care how you look I had no idea how to respond tbh anyway I still don't think a Barbie advert is insulting.

And as for appearance - have you seen superhero toys for boys? Ridiculous muscles that are just as impossible to achieve and can cause similar low self esteem issues.

Very surprised so many people are disagreeing with you here, OP. Children are flooded with messages every day about how they should or shouldn't look and there are plenty of studies which prove how damaging that is. Barbie is a part of that culture. And it's not a huge stretch to see the message of that Barbie advert as "you can be anything you want to be (so long as you're slim, tall and big-breasted with perfect teeth and hair)".

I disagree. Photoshopping is very hard for children to spot and understand. Dolls are easy to understand. A doll is not real which is why she can be a mermaid one day and a vet another. I think most children very quickly understand that dolls arent real.

The problems would arise if Barbie were the only doll available but she isnt. And even within the Barbie brand there are different skin tones and body sizes now days.
Just like it might become a problem if all you ever read your daughter was princess stories. Its not such a problem now days because there is such a variety. Being a princess or liking Barbies is not bad in itself its just the old pressure there used to be on girls that this was the only type of image they could look up to or aspire to be like.
I dont think theres any problem if a child has naturally gravitated towards these types of things.
Because of the wealth of different dolls available I think its fairly easy for children to accept and understand that they maybe wont grow up to look like or be like a traditional Barbie doll.
Kids arent stupid. I loved My little Pony but i didnt expect to see any pink horses with wings flying about.

Photoshopping is totally different because it presents itself as reality completely.

Err., maybe the gender of my kids is irrelevant and I see this as an issue for society, not just my own kids?

And I absolutelu agree 100% that boys should have more nurturing toys, boys toys are a joke too in a different way, but without the context of a system that priorotises their attractiveness over all else.

I think Barbie dolls are the least of our worries tbh. I'm far more concerned with how real women are portrayed in the media as this is what will have a real effect on how girls perceive things.

Also think the advert is quite good!

ok OP - i give up. You continue thinking having barbie around is an issue for society. Good luck.

wiggy - isn't that part of the issue though? So many things are dismissed as being "the least of our worries". I don't personally think that Barbie on its own poses an enormous risk to girls, it's the sum of the parts.

Again, not advocating that barbies should be banned - it's the advert that pissed me off.

I think it's too easy to see Barbie from an adult perspective and then project that onto a child. Children think in completely different ways to us, they see the world different because their brains haven't matured. It's quite hard getting into a child mindset.

A pp said about giving girls the message that you can be clever but you have to have legs up to your chin - I really don't think children see the proportions in the same way we do.

When I was little I wanted to be like Ariel or Belle. I wanted their face, I wanted their hair, more than anything, I wanted their voices. But what I never gave a second thought to was their tits and waistline. Ariel and Belle were adult women, I was a little girl - I wasn't supposed to look like that. By the time I was old enough to develop curves, I was well past the 'wanting to be the little mermaid' stage. (well obviously, I still want to be a mermaid, but one with a thicker waist. )

Children just don't see things in the same way we do, and they are generally pretty good at spotting make believe from reality. I think well meaning adults trying to discuss 'issues' about Barbie's legs or Elsa's oversized eyes and tiny neck are creating more problems than the adults that just let their children get on with it. The shape of a barbie doll is only an issue to grownups, because we see the world in such a complicated way - but that's no reason to point it out to children. They just don't see it, or process it in the same way.

Photoshop and the sidebar of shame are far more damaging for women and older girls. Constantly telling little girls that they're pretty, enforcing the idea that that it was is important, is what is damaging to little girls. Barbie is just a doll. Yes, she might be part of a wider picture of an unobtainable western ideal of beauty, but she isn't harmful in and of herself. She is sold as a fantasy - no one is buying a barbie doll for the gritty realism. The marketing campaign is a step in the right direction imo. Now, if they could only remember to promote her as just a 'toy' and not a 'girl's toy' it would be even better.