Tattoo Barbie!

tokidoki Barbie with tattoos

Yesterday, while I was making dinner, I was listening to the news as usual, when I heard about a controversy involving Barbie.  Yes, Barbie.  As though we don’t have enough real news for them to cover, the media decided to make Barbie a controversy.  The controversy is over tokidoki Barbie, one who has tattoos on her chest and neck, her body and pink hair…a funky fashionista.  

Of course, I got upset too.  As the media interviewed parents about what they thought, I was getting more and more agitated.  I have two girls and they started asking for Barbies at the ages of three and four years old.  I have dozens of Barbies still.  Every week a new Barbie would emerge from Mattel and promptly hit Saturday morning cartoon commercials.  Within seconds they would run up to me asking for the “new” Barbie.  I would say, but you have so many already.  They would answer yes, but this Barbie is “cool.”  I even had to start buying them two at a time so they would have to share the latest Barbie.  So I am upset with Mattel for creating this inappropriate, over sexualized, tattooed Barbie for children to play with.  It was a terrible idea!  

And, as I am banging pots, and yelling at the television, the truth comes out!  Mattel did not make this version of Barbie as a “toy” for children, but as a collector’s item for adults.  It sells for $50 and was never meant to be promoted to children.  The news media took it upon themselves to make it appear that was the case and that Mattel was going to corrupt all little girls into thinking tattoos all over you neck and chest was cool.  That was never their intention at all.  So they got me upset for nothing!

It may sound ridiculous that I would get upset over a doll, but our children are already getting so many negative messages and this comes when they are at a vulnerable age.  I remember when Mattel put out a line of professional Barbies: the school teacher, the doctor, the veterinarian etc and we got them all and dozens of others.  But, really now, if they decide to promote this one to kids they are going to setback their reputation.  As it is, kids are growing up too fast we don’t need toys that help speed up the process and put ideas in their heads.