Reegan Martell English 1110 Dr. Adams 12/08/2011 Argument Analysis: “Our Barbies, Ourselves” Since its debut in 1959, a molded plastic doll named Barbie has become an icon. Barbie became the icon that functioned as both an outlet for girls' dreams and an ever-changing reflection of American society. Emily Prager is one of the many young girls that grew up as having Barbie as one of their favorite toys. Emily Prager is a columnist with the New York Times and in her spare time she has published many books such as World War ll Resistance Stories; A Book of Humor, “Official I hate Videogames Handbook”, and many others. In this article Prager questions how Barbie had an effect on her life as a child growing up and how she viewed Barbie as well.
Critically examine the argument that Barbie represents middle-class, white ‘emphatic’ femininity. Blonde hair, blue-eyed 11.5 inches tall and the easily the most popular doll for sale in the world. Debuted in 1959 Barbie turns 50 this year and still continues to dominate the toy doll market. ‘According to the manufacturer, every three seconds a Barbie doll is purchased. Barbie has been said to touch every girl's life’ (Rogers, 1999).
Throughout the years, Barbie and Willendorf have consistently been compared to. Both statues are completely different in their physical and symbolic aspects, but nevertheless the same in their symbolic status towards women. Barbie is a best-selling fashion doll that was launched in 1959. Her actual name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. She has a slim waist, has round hips, and long legs.
Women wanted shorter skirts because they liked the general trend that flappers were setting. Manufacturers did everything they could to stop reducing the length of skirts but despite their efforts, women’s demands overwhelmed the clothing brands. (p. 79) Flappers wore short skirts, short sleeves, and sometimes they even wore no sleeves. The other fashion change that happened was hairstyle change. (p. 80) Young women really loved the bobbed hairstyle.
Eva is very happy while wearing this lips gloss. The emotion of Eva’s happiness can make us think if we buy this new lip gloss we will enjoy it. Is this lip gloss really worth buying? Just because cover girl says that it’s all these nice things don’t really mean it’s true. Ads tend to persuade us using many different things most of the time just so we can buy.
Smiley’s first Barbie doll came into her home when her now twenty-four year old daughter was three. The author describes how both of her daughters would only wear pink and purple as they went through the “Barbie phase.” Jane Smiley says, “Both of them (her daughters) learned how to put on makeup before kindergarten” (376). What Smiley means by this is that her daughters were advanced in age mentally. Smiley’s daughters were doing things at age five that most girls would only start doing at the beginning of their teenage years. Now that’s growing up without a childhood.
Even though Barbie is put in a professional occupation, they attribute her success to good luck instead of her non-existent efforts. Instead, it is her pleasure- seeking that allows her dog to discover the gold. Even at work Barbie lives a life of leisure. Motz explains how the image of an adult woman that barbie plants on little girls is fictional. However, we all seem to encourage our little girls to play and interact with this dolls.
Barbie first appeared in 1959. Over the last 45 years there have been more than one million Barbies sold. The popularity of the dress-up doll spread to children in the United States to start and became so famous that Barbies started to be sold worldwide. Another major trend in popular American culture is reality television shows. Reality TV shows
Moreover, Mattel fought competitors in Japan by joining forces with Bandai, Japan’s largest toy company. They adapted Barbie to Japanese culture and realized that Japan’s market prefers well known American Barbie. Finally, partnership strategies had been eliminated but still Mattel had a huge success with 31% of total revenue. In brief, Global strategies are partnerships that adapt it product to local taste, economic condition and pricing. I think that Mattel is doing Fair in Middle East and well in the Asian market.
International Business Chapter 14 Oxford University Press Prof. Rakesh Mohan Joshi Case Study BARBIE FACES ISLAMIC DOLLS Barbie, so named by ideator Ruth Handler after daughter Barbara s nickname, became the world s most popular fashion doll. Handler found that young girls enjoyed playing out their dreams in adult roles when she saw her daughter Barbara playing with a paper doll and imagining it as a grown up. Most children s dolls available at that time represented infants. This gave rise to an idea of a teenage doll, Barbie. Handler co-founded Mattel, a Southern California toy company with her husband Elliot Handler, and spearheaded the introduction of the doll.