| Thank
you for taking the time to write about the article I wrote in the
Washington Post in such detail. I have heard from many adult Barbie
collectors and I am sending the following response to you and others.
I can see by your passion that Barbie
Collectables provide you and others with a very enjoyable hobby and one
that you take very seriously. My intention was not to criticize or
belittle you, nor to cast blame on any individual or individuals. I
can understand, however, how you reacted the way that you did.
I hope you will feel reassured to know
that of all the many people who have written me about the article, no one
has mentioned anything disparaging about, or in fact anything at all
about, Barbie collectors, or even about the Barbie line self. If you read
the article in its entirety, you will see that I squarely place the
problems we are facing on larger issues relating to culture, families and
schools, and that apparently is the way people have interpreted it.
As a Barbie devotee, you and others
should be aware that parents and educators everywhere are truly angry
about this product. In my experience their immediate and gut reaction when
they hear about it is that Mattel has crossed a line that is totally
unacceptable. Mattel is a company that is associated primarily in their
minds with children, and that makes it different from other kinds of
companies that are perceived as simply merchandizing outlets.
Mattel has brought this scrutiny on
itself, at best either by not realizing that the average consumer will not
be privy to the details about Barbie Collectables of the kind you have
provided in your emails, or by not understanding that parents in today's
world are for good reasons feeling extremely overwhelmed and undermined at
every turn. At worst, Mattel is, or is at least giving the appearance that
it is, merely cashing in on the Tweens" and the "let's use sex
to sell everything" phenomena that are very real in our society.
As an example of the latter, I'd ask you
to compare the increasingly blatant sexual connotations in the advertising
copy for the newer Lingerie Barbie Dolls to the copy for the original
Lingerie Barbie Dolls marketed in 2000. It is also interesting to note
that fully six out of the twenty-seven dolls shown on the Mattel web site
in the Barbie Fashion Model Collection (the last time I (checked) are
variations of Lingerie Barbie. To the average person viewing the site,
that is an exceedingly high percentage (more than 20%).
Although I am aware that Barbie
Collectables are primarily manufactured and marketed for adults, please be
aware as well that at the FAO Schwarz store in Manhattan that I recently
visited, this doll was shelved in a location at eye level and completely
accessible to anyone walking by. There was absolutely no indication that
adults were the intended audience.
I ask you to entertain the possibility
that it is the Mattel Company and its marketing policies that have brought
on this controversy, not the upset of those who reacting to it.
Again, thank you for writing.
Sincerely,
Debbie Roffman
Lingerie or sexuality wasn't a factor when
deciding to bestow the honor of "Hottest Barbie® of 2002" to
The Lingerie Barbie® #5 . I'm smart enough to realize she's just a
doll (and that's without a Journalism or Human Sexuality degree).
Sorry immoralists, The Lingerie Barbie® #5 wins top honors here! |
