Barbie | Brand Barbie | Barbie Doll | Toy Brands | Branding Toys | Mattel | Women’s History Month

Does the Barbie brand represent modern feminine identity?

Like most multigenerational pop culture brands, the Barbie brand has evolved substantially over the years. As polarizing as the Beatles and Madonna in their times, Barbie will endure as long as she continues to take a stand on her core purpose: to deliver a fantasy experience to young girls based upon young girls' perceptions, hopes, and dreams of growing up.

Barbie's purpose is NOT to teach young girls what it means to become young women -- that is what parents and teachers and other role models do.
Barbie is a vessel through which girls pretend, just as boys play with action figures trying to take over the earth. (Forgive the gender stereotyping.) Are these boys doomed to be villainous grown-ups? C'mon...

That said, Barbie's relevance is being challenged more and more as the way young girls play is rapidly evolving. Barbie's reach has to move further away from the toy box if she expects to appeal to girls over 6 years old. Time for a massive multiplayer online game...

Noah Manduke - March 2, 2009

Any product/organisation that has lasted 50 years is probably doing something right. But, Brandchannel, is this really the most pressing brand issue that you want people to comment upon, triggered by Women's History Month? Apart from the manufacturers of Barbie, who really cares if the doll is around for another 50 years?

Peter Bonnici - March 2, 2009

New York Fashion Week just concluded, and the one show that received the most buzz and celebrity action was the Barbie show. That it was the most talked about show was a huge mystery to me, I thought everyone 'knew' the Barbie designers wouldn't have anything new to say, and it was basically true - there was no innovation and no new style. It was discouraging to see this show get the lion's share of hype and coverage. Forgive me for posting a link, but a friend wrote about it from a fashion bloggers perspective here: http://www.poeticandchic.com/home/2009/2/16/barbie-bafflement.html

Randall - March 2, 2009

I'd like to offer a female perspective on this topic, since you men are understandably limited in your grasp of what Barbie means to girls, and to the women they grow up to be :)"Who really cares if the doll is around for another 50 years?" Girls do. Even grown-up ones, judging by the 73,000 fans Barbie's Facebook page has already attracted in its two weeks of existence. I'm not even talking about the thousands of hardcore Barbie Collectors out there who shell out hundreds of dollars per special edition doll. I'm talking about regular women who have fond memories of playing with Barbie as a girl--memories of innocence, beauty, fashion, creativity and independence. I think Mattel is wise to target women, rather than girls, with the Barbie's 50th campaign, because they understand better than anyone that Barbie isn't just a plastic doll but a cultural icon of fashion, girlhood and relevance through continued reinvention.

Alla Gonopolsky - March 2, 2009

Barbie can be a reflexion of what women have and will become: enterpreneurs and leaders with a vision of changing the world, bringing a much needed balance of feminine energy into the captalistic world. She transcends time!

Cheryl L. Hodgson, Owner, Hodgson Law Group - March 2, 2009

Aqua had a terrible international hit with the Barbie Song some 20 years ago...but it does contain the key to 'her' success...'Imagination, that is your creation' Stick with that formula and Barbie may just survive these turbulent times we are in.

Anton Mazer, retired brand specialist - March 5, 2009

Barbie represents the current feminine generation. It is highly associated with them that does not include only girls but the ladies also. It reflects the way the time changes for the feminine generation. It not only represent the modern family but also the Ultra Modern families too.In all Barbie reflects time...

Ullas Gupta, QLogy Management Services - March 6, 2009

Barbie is a reflection of the expressed/unexpressed desires, feelings and aspirations. The looks, styling and fashion have all the while depicted a personality for a growing girl into her womanhood. This is more an emotional attachment than a straight jacketed thought of marketing. It is an amazing personality that attracts women around the world and Barbie finds herself in all continents in new 'avatar'.

Saroj Kumar Mohanta, Sr Consultant, MART - March 7, 2009

Yes. I agree that Barbie is a very good brand in consumer product representing modern feminie identity. Barbie and Victoria Secrets are my choices.

Sunny Poon, President - March 8, 2009

Barbie is still the most popular fashion doll ever created. That is because she is always changing when the fashion and trends change. Barbie has given lots of kids better self-esteem by showing them that they can be what theywant. Barbie has been a surgeon, a president candidate, an aeroplane pilot and a dentist among others. The kids nearly have her as a rolemodel. They think if she can do it, so can they! Barbie is actually many kids best friend. This is how she exhumes the modern feminine identity.Infact, in Barbie movies i.e.,the contemporary princess narrative, knits such seemingly disparate elements as a child’s latchkey status, the ongoing feminist-inspired empowerment project, postmodern intertextuality, and systematic “othering” of foreign bodies into a powerfully cohesive and prescriptive trope that bears consideration equally for its anti-global messages as for its sudden and relatively uncontested ubiquity in the children’s media market.

Shulamith, Research Manager, IMRB International - March 9, 2009

First of all,a big hand to Barbie for its golden jublee.The brand has been a heart throb for millions of girls at the prime of their life across the global marketplace.The superior value proposition of the brand being promised and delivered is fantastically matched with the today's fairy-tale-loving tender girl.It particulary holds good to the trend of nuclear family.

It is true the invasion of video game,animated cartoons,media blitz,and vever-launching miriad characters in a multitude of formats and on various platforms have challanged.But,these have undoudebtedly not even shaken the strongly founded brand.Retaining ,and enhancing femenine identitity of modern Barbie is not a tight rope for the brand builder.

Pricisely put, Barbie does represent modern feminity evn today.|Brand of Taj Mahal,and Effil Tower,for instance do not change themselves,rather more new tourists and some old ones as repeat customers derive satisfisfaction.So,Barbie is an iconically modern brand

Mohd. Rizwan Alam, Assitant Professor, Preston University - March 11, 2009

3D dolls will probably continue to be an important prop for girls to support imaginary play, at least for a few decades to come, where they get to mimic and experiment with social and environmental dynamics through play. So, to relevance, does Barbie reflect an image girls want to engage with? Maybe. Is the Barbie lifestyle one girls want to experience? Maybe. But perhaps the more important question is how would Moms today and in the future answer those questions? My 5-year old daughter might answer Yes to both questions. I might answer No. And I buy the toys.

Heidi McCulloch, Senior Strategic Planner, MacLaren McCann - March 11, 2009

barbie for me the first virtual reality a barbie collecter is considered cute however dolls are for a childs closet , only when it gets in to the hands of a marketeer that it walks out of the closet and begins to develop a personality creates its own language and starts to attract the child in the growing teene booper and their young at heart parents-when a culture does not have depth history and a deep heritage ethnogaphically speaking we create sub culture around man made and hang our fantasies on them - it will survive in cultures without depth it will not in countries where there is enough stimulus available for the young minds i disgaree that it was ever a role model in society it was a fad became a trend now a brand that thrives on the antics of the britney's whatever else come a along is a scavenger brand and like all parasites it has its own DNA to survive by riding on the soft tissues of a society its an american phenomena pushed up to the pedestal of a cultural icon.

shankar, head of marketing, falcom financial services - March 16, 2009

in my opinion the brand Barbie does have tha much presence it used to have at one point of time. When I was a kid (which was 15 years back) Barbie was considered to ve an expensive brand and whomsoever posessed it was considered lucky. But today there so many options available that brand value of Barbie has reduced with years. As far as India is considered the variability of product range available has also reduced. But yes, a few big toy shops do hold variety of Brabie products. However, many other cheaper and quality brands are available in market and also Barbie is not being promoted anymore, the way it used to be.

Anika, Housewife - March 19, 2009

Barbie is the archetypal embodiment of luxury, desire and envy. She goes to Aspen for a ski trip, drives in her convertible, camps out of a lush RV in the savannah, goes horseback riding, wining and dining, or clubbing. She dresses lavishly, is aware of her sex appeal and thus surrounded by attractive men. Itâ€™s a dream of a lifestyle. And all the while she has that soft but somewhat arrogant look on her face, challenging your ability to be what she is. Isnâ€™t this exactly the definition of luxury â€“ exclusive opulence provoking a toxic mix of desire and envy?

Albena, Georgieva - March 23, 2009

In the constantly evolving post-modern and polychronic context of the consumer space, the relevance of 'Barbie' as a pop-culture icon and brand definitely is challenged, as recent studies of microtrends relating to consumer behaviour in the past couple of years reveal that young girls growing up in this contemporary climes are being influenced by a whole lot of other factors and interests.

However, it does appears the celebrity doll-turned 'superbrand' still has got a lot of things going for her,judging from the sheer numbers of devotees and subscribers to barbie groups/fan clubs on many social networking sites.

frankly, i guess a way of sustaining this status would be by consistently positioning 'her' to remain relevant to the older generation of women as against growing girls - A timeless icon that women all over the world identify and resonate with.

Therein lies the challenge for Mattel, which I opine, they have commendably surmounted in the course of the last 50 years.

tomi ogunlesi, account planner, B A T E S Cosse - March 27, 2009

Barbie polarise people into Barbie lovers (usually good looking people) and ugly perople with horrible personalities of the world.It's common knowlege that Hitler hated the barbie brand.

- March 29, 2009

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