Where Barbie Went Wrong In China (2024)

FAQs

Where Barbie Went Wrong In China? ›

Unfortunately Mattel failed to execute the strategy well. Like Apple when it launched the iPhone in China, Barbie made the mistake of paying too little attention to local consumer tastes. Chinese women tend to like cutesy, girlish pink clothes (think Hello Kitty), not the sexy and skimpy kind Fields designed.

Ultimately, most analysts chalk up the failure of Barbie Shanghai as a case of a company doing too much, too fast. They invested in the idea that Barbie could become a cultural symbol in China without doing much to test that hypothesis before dropping millions of dollars.

Second, Mattel didn't quite understand what Chinese girls and young women want. The Chinese concept of “femininity” is very different from that of American. In China, “feminine” is more about sweet and soft rather than smart and strong, more about gentle and loving rather than dazzling and fashion-forward.

After a fairly slow opening weekend, as of the end of July, Barbie has made $25.5 million at the box office in China – not a huge figure but certainly better than other recent Hollywood releases like Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Detractors argue that the doll perpetuates unrealistic beauty standards, emphasizing a slim figure, flawless features, and unattainable perfection. Critics claim these ideals can negatively impact a young girl's self-esteem and body image, fostering insecurities and self-doubt.

This sees on, amongst others, the word mark Barbie, the Chinese word mark 芭比 (Babi is the Chinese translation of Barbie). Barbiecore, Cutie Reveal, Dreamhouse and many Chinese translations of such (incl Barbie snacks, Barbie food etc) are also protected in China.

Midge The Pregnant Barbie Scandalized Parents

Mattel's idea behind the doll was to appeal to girls aged five to eight who enjoyed playing house, as well as to families who were expecting a new sibling. However, many parents were outraged at the idea of a pregnant Barbie, as theyy believed it promoted teen pregnancy.

Some said they had hoped a Western movie would be more insightful about women's rights than a Chinese one could be, but found it still exalted conventional beauty standards or focused too much on Ken. Others said they felt compelled to give the movie a higher rating than it deserved because they expected men to pan it.

When was Ken created? Kenneth Sean Carson hit store shelves in March 1961, two years after Mattel released the first Barbie doll. Ken, who, yes, is a Pisces, was created as a male counterpart and companion to Barbie by Ruth Handler, the inventor of the iconic mononymous fashion doll.

Barbie is a fashion doll created by American businesswoman Ruth Handler, manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel and introduced on March 9, 1959. The toy was based on the German Bild Lilli doll which Handler had purchased while in Europe.

Why is Barbie losing popularity? ›

Because other playline doll lines like Monster High, Bratz, Rainbow High, and Shadow High are just more aestheticly interesting, more mature, more trendy, and much higher quality than Barbie. The quality on playline Barbie dolls and their clothes has also been going downhill for years.

The doll, however, was reportedly recalled. It was a collaboration that went awry. Mattel partnered with OREO-maker Nabisco to create an “OREO”-themed Barbie in the 1990s. The doll, however, was reportedly recalled after criticism that the word “Oreo” can also have an offensive connotation to people of color.

As Eliana Dockterman describes in her richly researched Time article, Mattel faced the significant obstacle of what Barbie represented to many people. “The traditionally thin-waisted, blonde-haired doll has long been criticized for setting unrealistic body standards,” Dockterman writes.

“The men felt that women would not buy a doll with a woman's body—with breasts and narrow waistlines and narrow ankles, this adult sexy-looking doll. Men felt that their wives would not want it and that it wouldn't be right for a child to have.” “At the time, baby dolls were the popular toy,” notes usatoday.com.

This Barbie is rare because the eyes are green on the doll but the eyes on the back picture for the doll are blue. They recalled these after the error was found.

In Mexico, a Barbie homage doll sparked controversy when a sister of one of Mexico's 111,000 missing people began sewing Barbie outfits to costume the doll as a “Searching Mother” — a member of a group of volunteers who fan out across Mexico's dusty plains to search for gravesites that might contain their children's ...

The experimental “Barbie body image effect” didn't persist when the older girls in the sample were re-tested, but the researchers still cautioned that “early exposure to dolls epitomizing an unrealistically thin body ideal may damage girls' body image.”