Being Barbie

I don't really remember Barbie doll commercials over the years so during the holidays, a Barbie commercial caught my eye, not only because I played Barbies once upon a time, but rather the message it carried. I'm not a marketing person, but I thought what a clever way to advertise. It was a college classroom, a little girl stands at the front teaching about the brain; which then dissolves to the little professor in her room playing with her Barbie dolls, the one in her hand, standing in front of a group of toys, teaching about the brain. The tagline, "You Can Be Anything".

"Imagining she can be anything is just the beginning. Actually, seeing that she can, makes all the difference."

As a teacher, I applaud the commercial; the positive contrast from the debates about Barbie being a poor role model for body image, making girls think that their waist shouldn't be much bigger than their wrist. She gets a bad rap because of her shapely figure; but then again don't we all get a bad rap for something about our exterior, too thin, too chubby, too tall, too short, judging the size of our nose, or how far apart our eyes are set and well the list of possible critiques goes on; and those are only the ones we make of ourselves! Barbie too, has her critics based on her exterior; but what about what she really brings to young girls. I think the creative play that Barbie inspires is an important part of growing up. She became our alter ego, the one we aspired to become at some point in our life. Our dreams were fueled in many ways; from being the Princess of the Ball to an Olympic Gymnast.

Since those days, Barbie and her creators have worked to make Barbie an ambassador for empowering young girls! In addition to the, You Can Be Anything, commercial that caught my eye, I dug a little bit and found that Barbie is also celebrating role models. They have added a line called

"Inspiring Women" which was designed to inspire young girls to explore their own limitless potential; and at the same time learn about the incredible women who helped pave the way for them. The Barbie website proudly announces...

"Barbie is committed to shining a light on empowering role models past and present in an effort to inspire more girls."

In fact girls of all ages are invited to join the conversation and share their role models using #MoreRoleModels.

While I saw the Barbie commercial during the holidays, why did I decide to write about it today? Today is National Barbie Day; the anniversary of the day Barbie made her debut at the American International Toy Fair in 1959. March 9 is also considered her official birthday. While I don't remember Barbie Doll commercials, the history of the famous doll says that it was the first toy that had a marketing strategy based extensively on television advertising! Whether I remember the commercials or not, it obviously has been a success with over a billion Barbies having been sold in over 150 countries.

While many have looked to Barbie's glamour, have criticized her for the negative, exterior, self image she projects on young girls; even as far back as 1959; Barbie's creator intended much more; and her intention I think would surprise many for a doll created in 1959. Ruth Handler, a wife, a mother, and an inventor; created Barbie with this in mind...

"My whole philosophy of Barbie was that, through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be. Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices."

As a woman, mother, and teacher I love that Barbie was created with this noble philosophy! It was as early as 1965 that Astronaut Barbie appeared; Astronaut, a career choice that nearly everyone saw as a male choice. While many want to own the beautiful outfits, the fantasy outfits of mermaids and princesses, what our girls can learn is that they can have those and a dream career too!

We probably all know at least one girl who loves Barbie and my guess would be that she didn't/doesn't only have one but many! I remember having one of the early Barbies, and other than being able to dress her in different outfits she didn't really do much but feed the imagination of the many outfits and events I dreamed of going to and being the "belle of the ball". Then lo and behold, the Barbie that could move came out. Mattel did a promotion where you could trade in your old Barbie, add a few dollars, and get the latest and greatest model!

I remember begging my dad, as soon as he walked in from work one evening, to take me to the local Sears to make the deal! Of course I had to wait until after dinner; I'm sure it was one of those evenings that I cleared my plate in one gulp and ran out to sit and wait in the car. He did take me that evening and I still see it vividly and feel the excitement of making the trade; and then opening the box to a Barbie that twisted at the waist! I laugh thinking how it was like the best invention ever, when years later my daughter would get a Barbie with a set of parallel bars and remote, every joint was able to move and Barbie actually did stunts on the parallel bars; a huge advancement from the twisting at the waist.

The funniest memory I have of my Barbie years was my aunt and uncle sending me the first talking Barbie, all the way from California. That's not the funny part, it was beyond a dream. When you pulled the little string behind her neck she would say one of a few phrases; to have Barbie actually talk to you moved you up a few pegs on the Barbie doll envy board!

Of course I was at the age where that wasn't enough; gymnast Barbie hadn't been invented, but this one had rubber legs that did bend; so I became an inventor and made her into the early gymnast version bending her legs, making high jumps over things and of course, what gymnast couldn't do the splits? Well I got the answer, after a number of practice splits, and in one moment of making her do the biggest splits ever, like God didn't ever intend the human body to be able to bend; it happened! One of her legs snapped off! Horrified and very upset I ran across the yard to where another aunt and uncle lived; my uncle was always repairing and building things so I was confident he would be able to fix her as good as new.

Well he fixed her, and his repair was a family debate for years, because how he fixed her, we still think he did it on purpose! Two big machine screws through the thighs! While only one leg had popped off he "repaired" the other as a "precaution". Now, not only could Barbie only do lazy splits, but she couldn't talk anymore!! That's where the controversy comes in. My uncle was not a fan of noise and not a fan of our childish antics and was known to "repair" many toys so they no longer made noises! Somehow in his repair, the guess was that the string that you pulled to make her talk was wrapped up someway in the machine screws, and so Barbie was silenced. When I got older I told him I knew it was no accident that her string got caught and he used really big machine screws to repair her dainty figure, I knew, as did many of us, he was always looking for ways to silence the females in the family!

If you owned a Barbie or have a little girl who is or was a Barbie fan you have those stories; Barbie being kidnapped by the family dog or facing other demises, trading Barbies and accessories which shook a friendship, until Barbie was abandoned for technology and social media and all peace was restored (for now). Whatever your stories and happy memories; I hope that we can all look at Barbie beyond her exterior and see the dreams she holds deep inside for the girls in our lives, as well as young girls everywhere. Whether they own one dressed as nurse, doctor, mom, teacher, lawyer, pilot, astronaut or president; let's be sure that we encourage and empower the young girls in our lives to be the best version of themselves, to grab onto their dream; and know if they want to achieve it, they can find the path that will get them there!

For our little girls there is still plenty of time for hanging onto those fantasy roles of princesses and mermaids, and going through ten, twenty, or more of the 180 career Barbies; just encourage them to dream and realize if they dream it they can do it! For us older gals, whether happy in a career, or considering a change, in the least, Barbie can be your fashion consultant as you dream of owning a few of those outfits, accessories, and the shoes, especially the shoes!! Of all her careers, fantasy roles, and countless outfits and accessories; you aren't ever too old to want to, Be Barbie, now and then!