PRACTICAL BRIEF.
THINKING OF A NEW IDEA.
I went back to my essay today and wrote down the most prominent themes and focuses in hopes of finding new inspiration.
Points of focus / interest:
- Growth in telecommunications: Mobile and internet.
- Manufacturing of the media: no truth, influencing the public opinion.
- Topography of news stories.
- Too selfish and involved in consummerism: oxfam advert.
- Wider spread of one culture.
- Tyrannical power of the western way of life.
- Americanisation is not totally negative, allows us to have a more rational world.
- More standardised way of life for everyone.
Something that I particularly enjoyed writing about in my essay was the growing dominance of a western way of life on eastern soil. As a point to begin I began to think about large western brands that had travelled into the Eastern world.
- Mcdonalds (hence mcdonalidization)
- Disney
And then I thought of Barbie. Barbie is a large American company which I have seen make a footprint on almost every fragment of the world.
I began to research into Barbie where I found some interesting information.
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. Source
The first ever Barbie released in 1959.
Standard Barbie dolls are approximately 11 1/2 inches tall, the dolls are at a 1/6 scale and therefore In real life, this mimics a 5ft 9 woman. The other measurements for these Barbie dolls are as follows 36 inches chest, 18 inches waist, 33 inch hips. These measurements mean that the Barbie does not have between the percentages of 17-25% body fat that is healthy for a women her height, and therefore if real would not be able to fulfil all its necessary bodily functions.
It is estimated that over 1 billion Barbie dolls have been sold worldwide in over 150 counties with Mattel (Producer of Barbie) claiming that 3 Barbies are sold every second.
White Francie
Coloured Francie
In 1967 the 'Coloured Francie' doll made its way into the market, sometimes described as the first African American Barbie doll. It was produced using the same existing head moulds for the white Francie doll and lacked African characteristics other than a dark skin.
Christie
The first African American doll in the Barbie range is usually regarded as Christie, who made her debut in 1968.
Black Barbie.
Black Barbie was launched in 1980 but still had caucasian features.
So in style Barbies.
In 2009 Mattel brought out the So in style range which was supposed to have a more realistic depiction of black people.
Teen talk Barbie.
In July 1992, Mattel released Teen Talk Barbie, which spoke a number of phrases including "Will we ever have enough clothes?", "I love shopping!", and "Wanna have a pizza party?" Each doll was programmed to say four out of 270 possible phrases, so that no two dolls were likely to be the same. One of these 270 phrases was "Math class is tough!" (often misquoted as "Math is hard"). Although only about 1.5% of all the dolls sold said the phrase, it led to criticism from the American Association of University Women. In October 1992 Mattel announced that Teen Talk Barbie would no longer say the phrase, and offered a swap to anyone who owned a doll that did.
Oreo fun Barbie.
In 1997 Mattel realsed the 'Oreo fun Barbie' avaliable in both black and white skin tone. The Oreo fun Barbie was supposed to be a doll in which girls could play with after school whilst enjoying 'America's favourite cookie'. However the term Oreo when interlinked with a black person is a dereogatory term often used to described a person who is black on the outside and white on the inside. Because of this mishap the doll was therefore, very unsuccessful.
Share a smile with Becky.
Also in 1997 Mattel released a doll called 'Share a smile with Becky' whom sat in a pink wheelchair. However one customer, whom was wheelchair bound, found that the doll whilst in its wheelchair did not fit inside the elevator in Barbie's dream house. Mattel said that in the future they would adjust the dream house to fit with Share a smile with Becky.
In sepetember 2003 The middle eastern country of Saudi Arabia outlawed the sale of Barbies. saying that she did not conform to the ideals of Islam. TheCommittee for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice stated "Jewish Barbie dolls, with their revealing clothes and shameful postures, accessories and tools are a symbol of decadence to the perverted West. Let us beware of her dangers and be careful." In Middle Eastern countries there is an alternative doll called Fulla which is similar to Barbie but is designed to be more acceptable to an Islamic market. Fulla is not made by the Mattel Corporation, and Barbie is still available in other Middle Eastern countries including Egypt.
Totally tattoos Barbie.
In April 2009, the launch of a Totally Tattoos Barbie with a range of tattoos that could be applied to the doll, including a lower back tattoo, led to controversy. Mattel's promotional material read "Customize the fashions and apply the fun temporary tattoos on you too", but Ed Mayo, chief executive of Consumer Focus, argued that children might want to get tattooed themselves.
Barbie Cafe in Taiwan.
In 2013 in Taiwan the first Barbie themed restaurant called Barbie Cafe opened.
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