Popular Culture Review Vol. 4, No. 2, June 1993 | Page 37

Toys for Girls

35

sensible buttocks. Furthermore, because the doll is merely Barbie only
less glamorous, girls who must choose between the two know which
look is more desirable. If the toystore shelves are any indication of
popularity. Happy To Be Me is a tremendous failure, stacked high
under a sign that reads "clearance.”
Fashion makes up the final part of the glamorous look girls' toys
insist all girls should want. Although most successful dolls have a
plethora of accessories (mostly clothes). Barbie is on the cutting edge
of fashion, demonstrating that clothes are more than attractive body
coverings; they are the keys to a myriad of personalities. For
example, Parisienne Barbie, Gay Parisienne Barbie, Scottish Barbie,
and Czechoslovakian Barbie represent these nationalities purely
from the clothing they wear. Ethnicity is a 'look." Likewise, Barbie
has clothing sets that capture certain moods, styles, or atmospheres,
such as Southern Sweetness, Star-Spangled Evening, and Textures
Galore. Bridal themes in Barbie and her clothes also occupy a
significant part of her wardrobe. Finally, Barbie clothes are often
skimpy and "sexy," featuring swimsuits, workout outfits, and
revealing ball gowns. If parents cannot afford Barbie brand clothing,
the cut-rate Barbie, Sandy, has a full line of clothes, including
Sandy's Intintates, which features leopard-skin bras and panties, seethrough camisoles, and see-through lace dance outfits. No matter
how innocent the girls are who play with these toys, the message is
loud and clear—beauty and sexy clothing are the key elements of the
most desirable lifestyle a young girl can have.
Girls are subjected to archaic and debilitating value systems in
toys for their entire childhood. The overarching outcome of these
values about what it is to be feminine amounts to a subverting of
individual identity. Perhaps this subversion is best characterized by
Mattel's recent advertising jingle for Barbie: "We girls can do
anything, right Barbie?" The ultimately tentative tone of the motto
undermines girls' confidence by having them check in with a Barbie
doll to see if such an outrageous insistence on liberation can be true.
However, complete identification with a role model is eminently
safer and more profitable, and so most currently Mattel has adopted
the enthusiastic "We're into Barbie!" (spoken by the consumers
themselves) as motto. Girls now submerge themselves completely in
an artificial concept. The objectification implicit in this latest jingle
(Barbie-ism as a consumeristic phenomenon) summarizes the insidious