The Wall Street Journal reports that Matte’s Barbie line is doing very well. Barbie is revitalized, groovy, but, at the same time, good at math. Barbie has been around for 60 years, but has not aged one bit. She’s not as thin (in some models of the iconic doll) as she once was, but who is 60 years later? Ken has changed a bit. You can now get “Ken, the Merman,” or “Orchard Ken” whose only accessory appears to be an apron. Ken looks like a surfer in all his versions and does not show much interest in Barbie or her many careers. The Barbie beach house remains available.
There is Barbie the art teacher, complete with an easel and a little tot set to study under the doll with perfect painted eyebrows. One Barbie comes with a doggie stroller and two tiny dogs. Barbie the polar marine biologist seems to come with a penguin. There are historical-figure Barbies. Florence Nightingale with no patient or even a medicine cabinet, and Rosa Parks with no bus.
There is HBC (Hudson’s Bay Company) Barbie, who comes with a jacket and oar oar in the iconic HBC stripes. Doctor Barbie comes with a cart and two tiny infants. Pilot and Astronaut Barbies do not come with a jet or rocket. There is a pink helicopter available for separate purchase. There is even an Elton John Barbie — no piano nor rocket man.
Chewbacca Barbie is enough to scare the living daylights out of any 9-year-old. So could some of the Ken haircuts. Is a Black Widow Barbie in a skin-tight white suit with Barbie’s 1959 figure really necessary? Barbie female gymnastics coach complete with a pink pommel horse is perhaps Mattel’s best idea. Given the history of male coaches in women’s gymnastics, putting Ken with “sculpted dreadlocks” in that role might not fly off the shelves.
If you thought your choices for cold medicine at CVS were confusing, browse the Barbie website. The Barometer’s hat is off to the folks at Mattel. They have found some well hidden market niches. The Barometer just wonders what the creative staff consumed before coming up with some of the dolls and their accessories. Perhaps the dolls are just a reflection of society. Bug, what is missing is a fairly large chunk of society’s composition: Barbie the mother or Barbie and her family. In fairness to Mattel, there is shower-gift Barbie who is holding a stuffed animal. A must-have for every mother-to-be.