Barbie has gotten a lot of backlash in the past couple of years, and people are absolutely in love with the product or they hate it; there really is not an in between. Barbie receives many critiques about how their product makes a body image for girls that is nearly impossible to achieve or how they don’t have enough racial diversity. However, Barbie is trying to fix all of this, and become an empowering toy for young girls, and boys, everywhere. Barbie’s creator, Ruth Handler, said, “The whole philosophy of Barbie was that by playing with the doll, a young girl can be anything she wants to be. Barbie always represented that a woman has choices.” (Kershaw) Barbie’s new commercial, Imagine the Possibilities, portrays this philosophy in every …show more content…
Gwyneth is a young professor teaching a classroom full of college students about the brain. Doctor Brooklyn is a veterinarian taking care of animals, and Maddie is a male soccer coach. The video also includes two other girls whose names are not mentioned, one of which is a tour guide in a museum, and the other is a young, successful business women. These five girls are thrown into these actual professions, with adults who don’t know what’s going on. Maddie makes sure the boys on her team are keeping their knees, “High like a unicorn!” while they are doing their warm ups. The tour guide tells everyone that the triceratops, Peter, is one years old and Sally the t-rex is, “One thousand two million two hundred and fifty two years old.” Gwyneth informs her class on the fact that, “The dog’s brain can’t think as much as a human’s brain, because there’s no high school for dogs,” and Doctor Brooklyn talks about how her cat can fly. Lastly, the successful business girl talks about how she’s been to many different places including Transylvania and Pennsylvania. The commercial ends with the surprising, impactful message. The screen fades into a different scene of Gwyneth actually playing with Barbies, with a lecture hall she had made of cardboard and all of her Barbie dolls and continues her “lecture.” The point of the commercial is that when girl’s play with Barbie’s they can be whatever …show more content…
For example, astronaut Barbie debuted in the 60’s right when the space race began and Barbie and the Rockers came out in 1986, just as MTV debuting. In addition, Barbie made sure to include different ethnicities such as African American, Indian, Native American, and Chinese. Now, Barbie is making sure to keep up with the new feminism tidal wave that is taking over America. In its early years Barbie had released a talking doll that exclaimed, “Math class is tough,” this did not go over well, and it was said to be degrading to women. However, now Barbie’s have binary codes on their shirts, showing that Barbie is an intellectual person, just like the girls playing with her. In addition, Barbie recently redesigned their Barbies to have different, more normal body sizes with different ethnicities. Feminism in society today is all about how women should have the same rights as men, and equality is a big part of that movement. Many people fight for equality among women and men, whether it be in pay rates, being hired for a job, or just while in public. This commercial supports this movement in many different
By this time Barbie was a very popular doll that a lot of young girls wanted to have in their hands. Mothers and other parents were liking the doll because she provided a sense of what the “grown-up” world would be like. Plus, a lot of girl’s loved playing dress up and playing pretend house wife. But Barbie was more than just the house wife, Barbie has a career, many of them and she was a fashion icon. Than Barbie, the classic Caucasian, bond headed went even farther. “In the 80s, she joined the multicultural movement and was depicted as African-American, Latina, and Asian”, (Friedman, 2006). Now, not only could girl choose what profession and career they wanted their dolls to be, but now they could choose the race they were and maker Barbie more like their own. Yet still parents started to notice the Barbie’s measurements and how unrealistic they were. They started to worry about of this would have a negative impact on their children when they grew up to be adults. I can use this article because it explains that Barbie came in different race now but her measurements were so unrealistic. This causes concern and many people still today wonder if Barbie has a part in why women stress over their body
The commercial’s main focus is interviewing people of all ages interpreting the phrase “like a girl.” The female director asks the first young woman to show what it means to run like a girl, at which point the teenager begins to jog in place, moving her arms indiscriminately, and making sure her hair stays just so. The director asks the same thing of a young woman, a
“If Barbie was designed by a man, suddenly a lot of things made sense to me,” says Emily Prager in her essay “Our Barbies, Ourselves” (Prager 354). Prager’s purpose for writing this essay is to explain the history of Barbie and how the doll itself has influenced and continue to influence our society today. Prager is appealing to the average girl, to those who can relate to the way she felt growing up with Barbie seen as the ideal woman. Emily Prager uses a constant shift between a formal and informal tone to effectively communicate her ideas that we view women today based upon the unrealistic expectations set forth by Barbie. By adopting this strategy she avoids making readers feel attacked and therefore
TV commercials sell sexy because sexy sells, and is now targeting younger audiences. A preteen viewing a Bratz Dolls commercial will be prompted to visit their website, where she will be greeted with attractive dolls dressed in sexy outfits. The dolls portray an image of teenage girls with large attractive eyes, lush glossy lips, and dressed in the latest fashion. Psychologists Lamb and Brown make the following observation “Dressing for fashion a’la Barbie or Lil’ Bratz dolls and dressing for physical play are completely different things.... ...
Their shame may exit their mind and empowerment may enter into replacement. Like girls, they may feel proud and no longer think of themselves as girly. Likewise, all teens should have a better self image and ponder what #LikeAGirl means to them and whether or not they’ve encountered the phrase in their lifetime. Regarding context, the fact that the commercial is made for a mass audience is clear because of where it was shown. It was made for television and even appears as the advertisement at the beginning of YouTube videos.
Because girls are impressionable at all ages, Barbie targets young girls to fantasize about being perfect. Girls look at Barbie and believe they can obtain all of her attributes, while in reality that would be impossible. Having a goal to be an astronaut or pediatrician seems probable at young ages, but the image of Barbie and all of her successes are never a result of schooling, hardships, or any stresses that would face them today. A fantasy world is built up and is deemed probable because of the one-sided point of view of Barbie. Slumber Party Barbie was introduced in 1965 and came with a bathroom scale permanently set at 110 lbs with a book entitled: ‘How to Lose Weight” with directions inside simply stating ‘Don’t eat.’
This commercial has an upbeat feel to it while simultaneously advertising its product effectively. The commercial tries to cover a wide range of audiences. It tries on emotional levels to connect with multiple individual and does a very good job in portraying examples in their situation. This commercial definitely advertises its product effectively. It was timed well, and it used quality examples of rhetorical analysis throughout the entire
The argument rests in whether the effects of encouraging dads to play Barbie or reinforcing gender roles have more effect. It would be admirable if this video shows dads that playing with Barbie doesn't make them less of a man, but it doesn't. Instead, it tells dads that they should stoop to their daughter's level for a moment to indulge them in childish play. For Mattel to send a tweetable message - one that no one could discount without seeming like a bigot - at the expense of making gender roles laughable is only natural as long as a company values marketability over a meaningful position. It seems that to produce change in the public arena, it takes concessions.
I believe that the “Imagine the Possibilities” advertisement repositioned the Barbie brand in consumer’s mind. The advertisement showed how children interacted with the doll, as well the real life version of their imaginations. Also the commercial focused on the idea of the Barbie’s tagline “You can be anything.” This is really important, because this idea is what Barbie always stood for, it just got lost in all the controversy surrounding the doll throughout the
Although Barbie was created as a toy for girls, the sexual nature of the doll suggests it was created for the pleasure of men and envy of women. Prager compares the figure of Barbie to the kind of women who would be seen in the Playboy mansion or be a frequent guest on explicit television shows. This is the image of a mans...
The makers of this commercial intended the audience to be teenagers and young adults. The values used were sex appeal (of one of the...
Stone, Tanya Lee. The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie: A Doll's History and Her Impact on Us. New York: Penguin Group, 2010. Print.
According to Lisa Belkin, Barbie is good for society because she’s fun to play with and she encourages little girls to use their imagination and dream big. Many young girls who play with Barbie dolls have realized that she is just a doll. Some of these little girls don’t have the desire to look like Barbie; they just think Barbie is just a doll that they play with and leave them everywhere. At a young age girls are given their first Barbie doll and thought what “perfect” should be. Barbie portrays the perfect image and life. Not only is Barbie tall, skinny, and beautiful, she has all the luxurious accessories to match her perfect life. To go along with her perfect life she is accompanied with the perfect boyfriend, family and dream house.At a young age girls are also being influenced by this doll, what they should look like, and what kind of life they sgould lead. Young girls strive to achieve this look which is life threatening to obtain. Regardless to the changes they made to Barbie, she is still far from real. Little girls that are mature enough don’t strive to look like Barbie because she’s just a plastic doll.(Debate.org, 9). According to “The Intentions behind the creation of Barbie”, Barbie dolls ...
Barbie, a doll manufactured by Mattel, Inc., encourages an unrealistic body image, racial insensitivity, and contradictive goals, and it is having a negative influence on young girls everywhere. Launched in March 1959 by Ruth Handler, an American business woman and president of Mattel, Inc., Barbie quickly became popular and has gone on to sell three dolls every second, in over one hundred and fifty countries. However, Barbie’s rise to success has not been wholly positive – there have been numerous controversies, parodies, and lawsuits, all addressing a number of issues. One such issue is how Barbie promotes an unrealistic and unobtainable body image. For example, to scale, Barbie is five feet, nine inches tall, has a thirty six inch chest, eighteen inch waist, and thirty three inch hips. Had Barbie been a real person, she would not be able to walk, much less hold her head up. Secondly, Barbie is racially insensitive and perpetuates stereotypes. “Mexico Barbie,” from Barbie’s “ethnic” line, comes with a passport and a Chihuahua, as well as stereotypical red lace ribbons in her hair. Lastly, Barbie portrays goals that are both unobtainable and contradictive. Barbie has had a variety of careers, such as being a doctor, astronaut, and President of the United States, but also engages in stereotypical domestic activities, such as cleaning and baking. These characteristics are affecting young girls in a time when they are most developmentally susceptible, and teaching them a number of negative lessons.
It may seem trivial and go unnoticed to most, but by assigning Barbie a real career, people are able to identify with and recognize her. The marketers also provide Barbie with a life other than modeling, such as friends and a home. The Ken doll, which is commonly known as Barbie’s boyfriend, makes her appear more real to the audience. Girls are able to identify with the idea of a boyfriend, which makes the notion of Barbie seem more realistic and desirable. The same idea is applied to the many friends Barbie has been accompanied by over the years. Lastly, and perhaps most famously, Barbie, like almost all of the girls who play with her, have a home. The Barbie Dream House is just another clever way her marketing team has presented her to society as a real person. Humanizing Barbie, and portraying her in such a manner makes her more attractive to potential buyers. The girls who engage in play with dolls do not want merely a doll; they desire something they can relate to and envision in the real world. Imaginative play is a large portion of childhood, and the ability for children to posses a doll like Barbie , who represents a real person in society, is extremely valuable. The use of social constructionism in the marketing of products such as Barbie is both brilliant and effective.