In The Pink

摘要

Frowned upon by feminists but fought over by five-year-olds, Barbie has been a victim of controversy as much as fashion ever since her birth, 50 years ago this month. The charge-sheet against the pint-sized piece of plastic is long. She teaches the supremacy of looks over substance; she stereotypes outdated gender roles; she celebrates an impossible body ideal; and she spreads platinum hair, plastic limbs and a nauseating shade of pink into households fromrnHonolulu to Hamburg.rnYet could it be that Barbie, far from being a relic from another era, is in fact a woman for our troubled economic times? For a start, she may benefit from having a strong, reassuring brand in a downturn. Although global Barbie sales fell by 9% in 2008, battering profits at Mattel, her maker, Barbie topped the 2008 survey by America's National Retail Federation of the most popular girls' toys, relegating even the Nintendo Wii to fifth place. And she has just seen off her hip-per rivals, the Bratz. After a long legal battle, a federal judge recently ordered their maker, mga, to transfer the trademark rights to Mattel. Barbie is once again the queen of the toyshop. In previous recessions toy sales held up reasonably well, as parents cut back elsewhere.