Pop Culture: Barbie
1.
a- identify how your PoP culture focus study has developed from a Local to a National to a Global level
Barbie, the ultimate Babe in Toyland, at thirty-six, Barbie most popular women in sale in the entire world. Barbie was invented in 1959 b Ruth Handler (co-owner of Mattel Toys), whose own daughter was called Barbara. Ruth originally though of the idea while her daughter, Barbara, was playing with paper dolls. She realised that as her daughter grew older and began to imitate adult conversations and the world around her, she needed a three- dimensional representation of it as well. Ruth approached her husband and the all-male executive team at Mattel after returning from a trip to Europe with a Lilli doll, a German doll produced in the mid- fifties. Lillli, however, was modeled after a sultry, almost pornographic caricature in a German comic strip; she was a far cry from the innocent, all- American image Ruth wanted to capture. After several trips to and from Japan finally ended with a deal that changed the pursed lips, widow's peak, and heavy make-up of Lilli into an embodiment of the quintessential American teenager, created to "project every little girl's dream of the future". Unlike other toys, Mattel did not test Barbie on a small market because they were so sure Barbie will be a success. Barbie was introduced to America and the world at the American Toy Fair in New York City in February of 1959. Barbie appeared at a time
when the term "teenager" was a "new and rather sexy one". The country had been through two world’s wars and a depression, and the fifties presented a time for young adults to come into the limelight. Mattel adopts current fads in order to present Barbie as a role model. Mothers buy Barbie in hopes of not only presenting entertainment, but also positive reflection of society and felinity. Handler had developed fashion to coordinate with society expectations and aspirations. These earliest fashion were indicative of the values and beliefs of the Barbie doll's initial target market, middle- class families, especially among American Mattel have followed current fad and fashions and chosen only those that will help Barbie to remain on the top of the pedestal on which American has placed her. With Barbie sales reaching the one billion dollar mark, clearly Mattel’s marketing and advertising techniques has been successful at doing so. b- analyse the consuption of your choosen Pop Culture. What are the commercial products associated with your topic? Who produces them? Who buy them? Who makes money from them? Races through process of changing and evolving over the year, Mattel produced different races and nationalities (in 1967) Barbie dolls and changed face mold somewhat so it would be more appearing to a wider market (1970) and Barbie as the athlete of 1975 Winter Olympics had portray Barbie as an international star had helped the development of Barbie to a larger international market or a stronger global market. In 1976, Barbie was given a place in "America's Time Capsule" at the nation’s bicentennial celebration, giving her a permanent place
in our history. Barbie has become universally recognized partly because of her association with other popular, recognized brand and other's pop culture. one of Barbie's set is "Birthday Fun McDonald’s, she owns a "Baywatch" rescue boat, she wear's Lee Jeans or dress up as celebrity such as Cher, Barbie with Elvis or as a "Bond girl". By attaching her to culturally specific ideas and pictures, Barbie becomes part of them. People familiarize themselves with the images together, and as one increases or decreases in popularity the other follows.
2. after 45 longs years of being on the market, with more than 3.6 billion in annual retail sales worldwide, Barbie outsold the nearest competitor two to one in 2003 continuing to stand as the top girls brand in the world. Mattel released a vast range of product under the brand Barbie with accessories, trendy fashion, entertainment, age- appropriate aspiration, and even birthday fun at Mc Donald’s. Mattel also created a range called Barbie Pop Culture where each Barrie doll would have resemblance facial feature or clothing that would match a celebrity such as Barbie in the trademark pink suite of Elle Woods from movie Legally Blonde 2, completed with her beloved dog, Barbie as Marilyn in White Dress from the seven year Itch, Britney Spear Barbie, Barbie as Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany or Barbie in the famous golden dress, wore by the "booty luscious" sensational teen icon,
singer Beyonce ( lead singer of band Destiny Child) at the 2004 Golden Globe Award by designer Versace. Because Barbie is so easily identifiable, in 1990, Mattel get a license to sell Barbie merchandise, licensed products emerge as a way to take Barbie beyond the doll: backpack, clothes, games and even furniture to help young girls to play out their fantasies. Barbie will also sing for the very fist time in her fourth feature film, Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper (featuring her recently splited beau of 43 years, Ken). Barbie pass realised movie are Barbie Nutcracker, Barbie Swan Lake and Barbie Rapunzel, Barbie had also guess stared in the 2001 blockbuster movie Toystory. In Mattel's annual report in 1996, Barbie and related products account for thirty-four percent of Mattel's overall sales. Hardly a girl left on the continent that does not have a Barbie. the average number of dolls per household in the sixties was one, now the average American girl, three to ten years old, owns nine (1996). Most women in the United States younger than 50 have played with Barbie dolls as a child. There is definitely a connection between dolls from childhood and later collecting. A limited edition of a Barbie Collectibles Doll, which can be up to 35 000 dolls, can quickly sell out. In 2000, Barbie's fan club had reached over 750 000 devoted member! She had serviced because Ruth Handler came up with the perfectly sized fashion doll. She fit right in your hand. One hand for the doll, the other to put on her clothes of hold her accessories. She is perfectly sized so that her clothing and
accessories are tiny enough to be miniature, yet large enough so that the clothing and accessories can have great, fine details. However, she had serviced because she is so accessible, Barbie could be found in the sea of pink in the Barbie aisle in Toy-R-Us, she could be bought over the internet with the essentially handily credit card and even in a super market of Vietnam. Barbie and merchandises are sold world wide in forty-four counties, her world has transcended all socioeconomic boundaries.
3. how is your Pop Culture changing and evolving? Describle the changes and over what period of time did the changes take place According to John Amerman (CEO of Mattel), the secret of Barbie's success is that “the product has been continually freshened". Toys normally have a relatively small life- span because of how quickly fads comes and go, yet, Barbie is an island of stability. Her clothing is a perfect history of fashion over the past forty year. This suggests that there are larger social, behavior, and value patterns at work. Marketing and advertising techniques have centered on these cultural patterns. They have followed current fads and fashion; they have transformed controversial and therefore potentially threatening issues into opportunities and kept Barbie as the adaptable, yet stable emblem of teenagers. The following are stages of Barbie change during each decade.
The beginning
Handler created a stunning wardrobe with adhered fashions to the philosophy " the doll sells the clothes and the clothes sell the doll" from which each child could choose an outfit such as Ballerina, bridal gown, tennis dress to even " houte couture" to created her own personality for Barbie, therefore, she had to develop fashion to coordinate with society expectations and aspirations. Barbie had earned herself a high degree of respectability and become a figure girls want to emulate, she was not only a fashion model, and she could be a sophisticate or a homemaker.
The Sixties
Barbie's face underwent plastic surgery to giver her more natural image with softer skin tone, less constrained visage with bright blue irises and curved eyebrows in 1961. By popular demand, the introduction of Barbie's "handsome steady" Ken also in 1961.Ken was an important additions to Barbie's world as a reflection of the majority of society's attitudes. Barbie was a reflection of women's role in society at the time. These roles were often defined by the men in women's lives, they were happy with raising families and being housewives, nurses and hostesses. Barbie portrayed an alternative, a life before marriage, without discarding the traditional values that accompanied this life style; she transformed poised and proper behavior and made it glamour’s. The introduction of Skipper was the answer to the request fro Barbie to have kids, society, especially fan would view a pregnant Barbie slightly too domestic. She must remain youthful, almost invincible.
Society expects Barbie to be participating in the same kind of activities that the majority of the teenagers were doing: smoking marijuana, practicing "free love" and protesting on the White House Lawn. Mattel presented her as the ideal MODern teenager, she normalized mini skirts and go boots because they did not accompany drugs and protest in her representation of the era. during the mid 60's Mattel introduce a vast range of Barbie dolls to the demanding public such as " Color Magic" Barbie, "Twist and Turn" Barbie and doll that could "move, bend, pose, grasp, tilt head and change hair". With al the new options, young girls could never get bored. With activist such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, the question of racial equality dominating the country was answered by Mattel in 1967 with African- American, Caucasian and Asian Barbie. This however, had boosted the sales, acceptance and popularity of Barbie around the world to the extreme.
The Seventies and Eighties
With new the new CEO in 1978, Mattel changed the company's direction more into "re-invention" than invention. There is always an element of excitement that accompanies something new that appeals to little girls when it comes to outdoor activities or makeup. America was engulfed in the disco craze, and Mattel’s look was strikingly similar to the trend-setting stars of the day. Barbie
resembled "Charlie Angel" star Farrah Fawcett with her wide smile, winged hair, and fresh, poised young lady girls loved and admired.
The Nineties
Mattel changed Barbie's characteristically apathetic and psychedelic and amidst the influence of women's liberation and the sexual revolution. Mattel reflected the varieties of option women were finding in the work place through Barbie many careers. Not only did Mattel want to "make Barbie a woman of substance", hope that this "new" professionalism might improve their status with feminist. She still allowed youth girls to fantasies about adult life, but now Barbie made the workplace, traditionally formidable for women, appear enchanting.
The international line of Barbie dolls including Italian, Oriental and Hispanic in the 80's were a good starting point to breaking all cultural, ethnic and racial boundaries within Barbie's world.
Barbie has always been an easy scapegoat for feminists. Many mothers see Barbie as a negative influence, not wanting to teach their daughter that they have to be blonde and beautiful to get a boyfriend or a career and she should care more about global issues, some women do not allow Barbie's into their homes. In 1990 Mattel defended Barbie and proven that Barbie does care about social issues such as poverty and suffering in the world and her life did not revolve around the superficiality and her shopping sprees and fascinating fashions may suggest. Mattel had proven this by using the "Barbie Summit" doll and "UNICEF"
Barbie would benefit important children courses (1992). Barbie still had competitor. However, her name, brand and lifestyle were so engrained into the society minds that she has been impossible to duplicate or destruct; that does not mean some people have not tried.