Lunch with Barbie

On the second day of LuckyFABB, I had the enormous pleasure of experiencing a lunch with Barbie. Yes, Barbie! Actually, it was a lunch with some of the folks behind the iconic brand.

The room was decked out with the several dozen famous Barbie dolls that Mattel has manufactured. Did you know that there is one Barbie sold every 3 seconds in the world? There’s no question about it. Barbie is the most famous doll on Earth!

After an incredibly informative presentation by Michelle Chidoni, there was a wonderful question and answer session. One topic that had to come up was the role Barbie plays on a young girl’s self esteem. I’m sure you’ve heard someone say that she is a negative influence on girls’ body image because her proportions are so off. But it’s important to keep in mind that Barbie is just a doll. She was never meant to look like a real person. In fact, she was designed to look like a 3D version of paper dolls.

Of course, I had to chime in with my own thoughts on what Barbie means to girls…

I truly consider Barbie to be a feminist icon. The doll was first released in 1959 in era where women’s education was considered taking “home economics” classes. Since then, Barbie has had more than 130 different inspirational careers – from president to a computer engineer. This 7.5 ounce doll allows little girls to dream about whatever they want to be. I’ve never once heard a little girl say that they want to look like Barbie but I have heard them say that they want to be like Barbie – have her career, her lifestyle, etc. Letting girls imagine the possibilities of what their lives can look like is a wonderful thing.