Zoetica Media

  • Home
  • Services
  • Speaking
  • About
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Contact

December 21, 2005 by Kami Huyse

Share this:
Twitter0
Facebook0
Google+0
LinkedIn0

Barbie Has an Image Problem
Most pre-teens feel it’s “cool” to torture the doll


snow
Originally uploaded by death is a picnic.
Girls aged seven to 11 seem to have particular venom for Barbie, but is hasn’t seemed to harm the sales of the doll.

In a study conducted by academics at the University of Bath’s school of management girls and boys reserve a special hatred for Barbie.

“Actual physical violence and torture towards the doll was repeatedly reported, quite gleefully, across age, school and gender,” said Dr Agnes Nairn, who led the research.

“The types of mutilation are varied and creative, and range from removing the hair to decapitation, burning, breaking and even microwaving,” she added.

Analysis of the children’s comments indicate that Barbie is hated because she is ‘babyish’, ‘unfashionable’, ‘plastic’, has multiple selves and because she is a feminine icon.

“Whilst for an adult the delight the child felt in breaking, mutilating and torturing their dolls is deeply disturbing, from the child’s point of view they were simply being imaginative in disposing of an excessive commodity in the same way as one might crush cans for recycling,” said Nairn.

All I can say about the study is that Matel obviously knows how to make money and Barbie is at the top of the heap as a money-maker.

They also protect their brands.

I once got a call (the week before Christmas in fact) from a Matel lawyer to find out if the manufactured housing industry had been “harmed” by a Barbie that had been dressed in a skimpy outfit, had a baby and a cigarette in her ring hole.

The doll was named “Trailer Trash Barbie” and the caption “My Daddy says I am a great kisser” was printed on the box.

They were going after the person who was selling the illicit Barbie. After the call, I prayed I would never be called as a witness in for that trial.

And for the record, I think I did pop the heads off of most of my Barbie dolls. The ones I didn’t, my brother finished off for me.

 

Tags: Barbie|Research|Branding|PR|Public Relations

Filed Under: Featured

About Kami Huyse

Kami Watson Huyse, CEO of Zoetica, is passionate about great communication. Working in Public Relations since 1994, and blogging since 2005, she has seen trends come and go, but one thing has stayed the same – people are looking for ways to authentically connect. She loves to connect with readers, so leave a comment or follow @kamichat on Twitter and connect there.

Subscribe to get the newsletter and premiums

Enter your email to subscribe:

  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

About Zoetica

Zoetica Swish SmallWelcome to Zoetica! We are an experienced team of communicators led by Kami Huyse who are dedicated to teaching you how to bring your communication to life with sound strategy, community building and solid success measures. Check out our blog, Zoetica Talks, browse our Resources, and check out our Sevices.We can't wait to get to know you better.

Recent Posts

  • Which Social Media Platforms to Use for Business in 2023
  • Creative Professionals, Get Ready for the Artificial Intelligence Takeover
  • The 5 Social Media Trends That Will Shape the Industry in 2023
  • The 5-Part Visibility Plan That Will Help Promote and Grow Your Business
  • Are You Ready for AI in Creative Work?

Zoetica in the News

5 Tools to Measure (and Manage) Reputation in Complex Environment PR News Byline

2014 trends for public relations, marketing and social media | Business | Kentucky.com (mobile mention) 

Digital PR & Social Media Guidebook – Contributing Author

How Communicators Can Get Started with PR Measurement, PR News Mention

Proving PR’s Value in the Age of ROI—How to Tie Results to Corporate Objectives | Bulldog Reporter (Speaker)

A Gnawing Crisis in PR: Measuring The ROI on Social Media Channels, PR News Byline

Named as one of AGBeat's top 50 industry influencers in 2014

Will Houston B2B companies answer the social media call? - Houston Business Journal

Social Media Measurement Twitter Chat: Evaluating Impact of Social Media on Foundation Outcomes (with tweets) · RWJF (Moderator)

Top 100 Social Media Power Influencers in Houston 2013

Named as one of 30 PR Experts You Should Follow on Twitter by e-releases

BusinessWire Congrats for Making the Top 100 Women on Twitter

Posts by Topic

Zoetica Talks

 

#SMBHOU

Influencer Outreach

Best Ranked

Measurement

Book Shelf

Nonprofit and CSR

Community

Online Ethics

CoolTools

Social Media Tactics

Crisis

Guidelines

How To

Social Networks

Humor

Speaking

Trends

Strategy

Latest Tweets

Tweets by @kamichat
© Zoetica, LLC | Disclaimer | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 - Zoetica Media · designed/developed by Petersen Media Group