Barbie came out with a new ad earlier this month with the slogan, “Imagine the Possibilities,” geared toward young girls and their parents, specifically their mothers. Barbie has been trying to change its image around for years, to convince the public that its dolls are not the super-skinny perfect stereotypes but rather representations of everyday girls in all walks of life. The television ad presents young girls in various different professional environments like the classroom, veterinarian’s office, and coaching a men’s sports team. It’s cute, touching, adorable, and the end of the commercial has a Barbie slogan splashed across the screen.
It’s a commendable attempt by Barbie to show that Barbie dolls can represent major power roles for women and give girls an early opportunity to “pretend” or act out real-life careers. My issue is, you can’t just slap a new outfit on a Barbie doll and change a little girl’s thinking.
I never had Barbie dolls when I was younger. I’m a typical tomboy in many regards, choosing t-shirts and sneakers over dresses and heels. I wanted to play basketball and baseball when I was younger, not dance or do ballet. I loved my friends that chose ballet over baseball and as I’ve grown up, I’ve made many friends with extremely varying interests, and many of whom have had Barbie dolls when they were younger.
I think the message by Barbie is good, and the commercial is very cute. The girls in the ad did a great job and made the message authentic, but the company continues to veer from all of the convincing messages it puts out about its self-image. Barbie claims it caters to any girl and sells dolls that represent a wide range of ethnicities, jobs, and outfits.
I went farther than I ever wanted to into the Barbie website to try and dig up some evidence in support of Barbie’s message to both surprise myself and give credit where credit is due, but no evidence was to be found. After I searched the website’s doll inventory, I found only three dolls representing athletes out of over 300 choices. Two were soccer players, one black and one white, and another was a white tennis player. Both soccer players wore short shorts and fitted shirts, and the tennis player is wearing a fitted shirt and a tennis skirt.
Out of all of the doll choices, I was shocked to find such a lack of athletic dolls, and on top of that, such a poor representation of the three athletes featured. Girls simply don’t look like those soccer and tennis players that Barbie portrays. I’d like to challenge Barbie to “imagine the possibilities” with their advertising and merchandise and come up with some new designs for these athletic dolls and then make some more.
There are no basketball player dolls, no hockey Barbie dolls, no baseball or softball dolls, or any contact sport dolls, at least on Barbie’s official website or for the last few years. I figured there wouldn’t be many, but it’s disappointing because a stereotype is then formed by young girls about what kind of sports and athletes are more feminine and which are more masculine.
The little girl featured in the commercial that coaches a men’s sports team runs them through warm-up drills. She arguably received the least time airtime, and the men she coaches have the most skeptical and comical looks on their faces as she introduces herself and starts the drills.
I would’ve much rather seen the little girl as the star on a coed team, scoring goals on other kids or working hard at practice. Putting her in charge of a bunch of men in sports uniforms that laugh and joke around while she runs a drill was annoying and a poor attempt to send a message. Instead of focusing so much on the whimsical and cute aspect of the commercial and panning to adults reactions, it would’ve helped Barbie to focus more on the little girls.
Barbie can try all it likes to turn this around and convince the public that its products are there to open doors for young girls and not close them with stereotypes, but it remains to be seen. I don’t like Barbie dolls because I think they’re completely unrealistic and are not vital to a child’s growth and development whatsoever. I preferred a basketball over a Barbie then and I prefer the same now, because I had all of my childhood experiences without a Barbie doll and I think I turned out just fine.
Young girls cannot “imagine all the possibilities” while playing with Barbie dolls if they don’t have a Barbie doll that represents them, put simply. Young athletes don’t have any Barbie dolls that portray them in an accurate manner, but that does not have to change. This does not have to be fixed because young athletic girls that pursue their sports don’t need Barbie dolls to validate their goals and aspirations, nor do girls that want to sing or dance or become master chefs or elite businesswomen. Let’s get rid of Barbie while we can and allow young girls to become their own representations of the future instead of needing dolls to force them into a skinny, blonde mold.
