March 9, 1959. Without knowing it, the world was about to change thanks to (or because of) a doll. Barbie has been everything during her almost 65 years of life: feminist icon, simplistic stereotype, astronaut… Under the slogan “Be what you want to be”, thousands of different models of the doll and her gang have tried their luck in the tempestuous market. However, not all of them have ended up succeeding. Wherever Barbie steps, no one is left indifferent. On the verge of seeing Margot Robbie starring in the movie we all deserve, we review the eight most controversial Barbies in history! I assure you that you do not expect them.
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8-Teen Talk Barbie
Remember Stacy Malibu, the doll from ‘The Simpsons‘ who said “Don’t ask me, I’m just a girl”? Well, it’s based on a real example: when Barbie was allowed to speak in 1991, she said “Will we ever have enough clothes?”, “I love shopping!” and “Math class is hard!”. For whatever reason, she was pulled off the shelves to keep quiet.
7-Tanner, Barbie’s dog
In 2006, someone thought it was a good idea to give Barbie a dog to walk him, pet him, watch TV with him and… uh… clean up his poop. Barbie Forever (like Batman) was accompanied by a stick that collected the dog’s droppings, which you could then put in her mouth to make her do her thing again. The funny thing is that it wasn’t removed because it was obviously disgusting, but because children could choke eating those little pieces. Things you see.
6-Disabled Barbie
In Mattel’s attempt to represent all the girls in the world, they created Becky, Barbie’s disabled friend who goes everywhere with her wheelchair. The idea is great! The problem is that they forgot one small detail: the chair didn’t go through the door of Barbie’s house. Take a sledgehammer to the real world.
5-Kissing Barbie
Who more, who less, has picked up Barbie and has made kissing sounds when she is near Ken, but… So much to want to paint her lips and activate a button that leaves her lips marked on whoever you want? The doll came out in 1978 and even then the idea that a woman is only good for kissing a man was more than outdated.
4-Barbie Oreo
What were they thinking? In 1997, Oreo entered into a commercial agreement with Mattel to create dolls based on their product line. The result, you can see. Terrible decisions.
3-Barbie rapper
In the early 90’s, nothing was more popular than rap. The commercials wanted to avoid it, there wasn’t a single TV show without its corresponding hip-hop beat (remember ‘Pokérap’?) and, of course, Barbie had to join in. The problem is that the design of the dolls looked like they were made by a sixty year old man who has never listened to anything hipper than Frank Sinatra. The ad was so infamous that it is still remembered today as one of the most serious mistakes in Mattel’s history.
2-Barbie babandsitter
There’s nothing wrong with Barbie being a nanny (she has to get money somewhere), but what was a problem in 1965 is that, for some reason, a book titled “How to Lose Weight” was associated with the profession with one simple piece of advice: don’t eat. Oops.
1-Barbie mom
As the Barbie world expanded to infinity and beyond, among all the doll’s different professions, someone decided it would be a good idea to have a line of pregnant dolls that could give birth. The result is creepy and worthy of a body horror movie. The controversy came not from the image itself, but that it could lead to a wave of child pregnancies and the fact that she didn’t have a ring on her finger. Yankee dramatics.
