Her boyfriend Ken seems to just want to go on dates all the time, Barbie has had to have all these careers to support her bum of a boyfriend (there was that low point when they had to run a hot dog stand). And somehow, SOMEHOW she’s still found time to become an accomplished horse rider.
However, being a fashion doll Barbie is nothing if not totally with the times. She’s ditched the careers, the blonde hair and the boobs. Donning a pastel pink bob, a toy dog (obviously a toy dog, but a toy toy dog) called Bastardino and tattoos, Barbie’s got rough. Say hi to Bad Influence Barbie!
Parents are complaining to Mattel this Barbie will make their children demand tattoos, hair dye and real toy dogs. “Why not put a cigarette and a beer bottle in her hand” commented Ms Twixt on a website for parents of tweenage children. Other parents posted equally balanced reactions to the tattooed Barbie.
It could be suggested that giving your child a doll that has crazed body measurements might be a worse influence than a doll with body art. Nobody should present their child with a toy and a sense of the inevitable. I’m a child of the 80s/90s I don’t look at horses and wonder why they aren’t pastel. I don’t press my earrings expecting to be transformed into a rock star and I’ve never qualified as a doctor. I escaped these toys evil influence and so can today’s children.
Concerned parents like Ms Twixt could simply not buy their children Barbies. Or certainly not Limited Edition Barbies anyway, they’ll only want to take them out of the packaging and decimate their value.
Kate