.png)
1 year ago
13
Growing Up Skipper was released to help teach kids about puberty, but she stirred up controversy instead. Kids could actually make Skipper's boobs grow by rotating her left arm.
Whether you love her or hate her, Barbie has always been a bit of a trailblazer. As Greta Gerwig put it in an interview with The Guardian, "Barbie went to the moon before women had the ability to get credit cards... She was always a kind of step ahead." But like any woman who does seemingly anything in public, Barbie has also quite a few controversies and scandals over the years.
Because I personally cannot wait to settle in to a movie theater seat to watch Barbie do her thing, I'm rounding up some of the weirdest and most thought-provoking Barbie controversies that it seems like everyone just forgot about.
1. Mattel got sued for allegedly knocking off a German doll, Bild Lilli, who was portrayed as a high-end escort.
2. Slumber Party Barbie offered kids "helpful" diet advice such as "don't eat."
3. The one where Skipper went through puberty.
View this video on YouTube
Mattel / Via youtube.comYou know Barbie's kid sister Skipper. In 1975, Growing Up Skipper was released to help teach kids about puberty, but she stirred up controversy instead. Kids could actually make Skipper's boobs grow by rotating her left arm (if only it were that easy). The doll also got taller in the process. Even weirder, text on the box celebrated her transformation from "cute little girl" to "tall curvy teenager." It's uncomfortable, at best.
Newspapers and magazines at the time critiqued the doll, but for some reason Mattel still made her a friend, Growing Up Ginger. However, soon after both dolls were discontinued in 1977.
4. This rollerblading Barbie was recalled for being a fire hazard.
5. An activist collective of artists hacked Barbie dolls in protest of gender roles.
6. The Oreo Fun Barbie was supposed to be a cute Nabisco collab but was accidentally racist instead.
7. Barbie's Dreamhouse is not ADA-Compliant.
8. Mattel sued Aqua over their hit song "Barbie Girl" — and lost.
View this video on YouTube
UMG / Via youtube.comAlso in 1997, Aqua's hit "Barbie Girl" was pretty much inescapable — or at least that's the way I, a sixth-grader at the time, remember things (yes, I taped "Barbie Girl" off the radio and yes, I listened to it on my Walkman while rollerblading). However, not everyone was happily singing along.
Mattel filed a lawsuit against Aqua, claiming that the song infringed on their copyright and created confusion among listeners thinking that Mattel was behind the Barbie-themed earworm. However, because the song was clearly a parody, their case was struck down.
And this year, "Barbie Girl" is getting new life. Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice sample it in their track "Barbie World" for the Barbie soundtrack, and yes, hearing it makes me wanna rollerblade around my childhood neighborhood all over again.
English (US) ·