2302 Barbie

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Driving to NJ yesterday to buy Peggy Sue, and to visit Daughter, and driving home, I listened to a lot of talk radio. Not political talk. I don't listen to the politically-motivated radio show hosts because I am aware that their purpose is NOT to educate or explain or explore or solve problems. Their sole purpose is to excite people to talk about them and their shows. Period. I don't like it when people attempt to manipulate my emotions for their own profit.

I listened to mostly news and discussion, interviews and the like. At least three times during the day I had to endure a biography of Barbie. She's 50 years old, you know. In case you haven't heard.

There are at least two versions of how she came to be. One is that the female half of the Mattel founders came up with the idea and fought for an adult doll. The other is that it was a male engineer employee who originated the concept.

I was very annoyed that everyone seemed to agree that Barbie was the first adult doll aimed for children. They say that there was a "Lily" doll in Germany, but that was meant as a sex toy (huh? How?) aimed to adults. (No one has mentioned the French fashion dolls of the 1800's.) So they admit that there were adult-shaped dolls, but insist that Barbie was the first for children.

Bull poopie!

Barbie was NOT the first "fashion doll" (read that as "with breasts"). Let's see - if she's 50, that means she debuted in 1959, right? In 1956 and 1957, Margaret Rae and I spent hours sitting on the floor of her bedroom in Ottawa, designing and sewing clothes for dolls that were the same size and shape as Barbie. I am absolutely certain it was pre-1959, because by 1958 I was back in Pennsylvania.

The dolls Margaret and I and every other girl our age played with were for the most part not sold directly to children in toy departments. You got them from bakeries. They were integral to the most popular of girl-type birthday cakes. The cake was baked in a bowl-shaped pan, the doll was stuck in the middle with the cake as her skirt, and it was all decorated beautifully with frosting lace and ruffles. There was always a metal charm baked into the skirt for luck and a special prize. After the birthday party, the birthday girl got the doll.

She was naked. There were no clothes made for her. We designed and sewed her wardrobe ourselves. The dolls were in great demand, therefore the doll cakes were in great demand, and that was the marketing plan associated with those dolls.

So Barbie was NOT the first adult-shaped doll sold for girls. Barbie was simply the first with a major marketing plan - the clothes, the cars, the houses, all the things she "needed".

Typical of Americans. It's not the product - it's the marketing that makes something special. We are celebrating the 50th birthday not of Barbie, but of the "accessory" marketing plan. Next time you pay $35 for ink for your $50 printer, remember that's the legacy of Barbie.

Who, by the way, was NOT the first adult doll for children.
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