Barbie, the iconic American toy sex symbol, turns 50 today. CNN tells us that 8 million people collect Barbie items, that the doll is “owned by 90 percent of American girls ages 3 to 10 and sold in 150 countries” and that “Barbie attracts 50 million visitors to her Web site each month.” Barbie has inspired generations of girls, becoming one of the first “career girls.” She apparently has held 108 different jobs, including “a police officer, a doctor, a veterinarian, an astronaut and a presidential candidate.”
In that last case, John Edwards apparently was modeled after the Ken doll. … Ah, there I’ve done it, illustrating one of the reasons that Barbie is criticized: because of our too-common tendency to unfairly judge the intelligence of people (especially women) on their appearance. That’s why good looks (and geography) quickly led to perceived vice presidential lightweight candidate Sarah Palin as “Caribou Barbie.” One key difference was that Barbie originally was a dumbed-down version of a toy German sex object, while Caribou Barbie was a seemingly dumbed-down version of a female Democratic presidential candidate.
Back to Barbie the icon: Of course it’s not just toddlers and pre-teens who have gone ga-ga over the doll, as evidenced by the fact that three of the five main sections of the Barbie site are titled, “Press Site,” “Barbie Grownups” and “Barbie Collector.” Barbie’s popularity and her anatomically impossible proportions have brought the doll widespread attention, and, not surprisingly, inspired copycats.
Most famous among them are now-53-year-old Cindy Jackson (whose body now contains more plastic than does a real Barbie), and perhaps the Bratz dolls (who, naturally, also have a website) that may soon become unavailable because of the designer’s Mattel/Barbie connection. Barbie also provided the media with a name for two bank robbers.
As part of Barbie’s birthday celebration, Mattel paid a designer to create a real-life Barbie Dream House overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The house includes “an original Andy Warhol portrait of Barbie valued at over $200,000 and a chandelier–designed by ‘Project Runway’ contestant Chris March–that’s made up of over 30 blond wigs and took more than 60 hours to craft.”
It’s good to see that Barbie, at least, can still afford housing.
Below you can see the first Barbie TV commercial, followed by a funny Sarah Palin spoof:
James McPherson's Media & Politics Blog 