Barbie Gets Tattoos and Parents Go Berzerk: Really, What’s the Big Deal?

October 25th, 2011 - By IndigoBlack

Barbie has just been wilding out over these past few years, huh folks? I’m not mad at it though. While the Mattel doll has always been pretty controversial, over the years, things have become a bit too real for some people. She’s had pregnant friends, had a tramp stamp on her back, inflatable boobs, and now, she’s covered in ink! On top of that, the edgy Barbie also has a pink bob (is that Nicki’s wig??)  and wears Hot Topic-esque clothing with a side of leopard print.

The doll costs about $50, and according to Mattel, is marketed at adults who are fans of collecting the miniature women. As the brand said in a statement, “Barbie has been dressed by more than 70 fashion designers over the years. Many of Barbie’s most pop-culture couture outfits have been designed for the adult doll collector.” While the doll may seem cool for older people, many parents are NOT feeling this new look for a doll that will be seen by their kids. In an interview with the New York Daily News, Queens father Tom Gurry said he would lay the smack down on his 11-year-old daughter if she tried to come home with a tattoo, or the doll:

“I’d kill my daughter if she came home with a tattoo. Barbie’s supposed to be a role model for young girls, right? I don’t want my daughter looking up to someone like that.”

Another parent, mom, Tiffany Newkirk, said that now that her own teenage daughter is bothering her about getting a tattoo, she really doesn’t think a doll like this is a good idea to put out there for kids to view:

“I don’t think that’s an appropriate toy for a young girl. You don’t want your kids to think tattoos are a good idea at such a young age because they last a lifetime.”

Okay.  The sensitivity level out here is getting waaaay too high.

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  • Msmykimoto2u

    I think she is too cute! I want one! Jk….but she is cute

  • AralynStCrow

    Tatted and proud!

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  • michelle

    i dont see a big deal i have tats all over and my kids love them they think they are beautiful and they say they want some when they grow up but that doesnt make me a bad role model im there for they and i teach them right from wrong and to be them selves even if it means they they like what i like and barbie tat is not teaching them a bad things i think its teaching them different things with the many other barbies out there from modeling to bikini to doctors and princesses. i feel they have just added another reality to barbie that we already see day to day.

  • Reese

    I don't understand the controversy. They can just not buy the doll if they don't like the way it looks. It is just a doll meant to be played with and not teach kids standards that is the parents job.

  • lalala…

    Cutest Barbie ever. I think anyone who is protesting this has way to much time on their hands. Go over to Occupy Wall Street or something if you have time like that.

  • couldntagreemor

    I think she is cute as a button. I'd buy her. She's hot! Some parents are going way overboard with this.

  • Is he serious?

    Barbie is a toy not a role model and I’m pretty sure his 11 year old knows that.

  • MzGates

    Some of these parents act like Barbie isn’t modeled after real peaple. People have tattoos, people wear their hair different colors. If your kids don’t see it on Barbie they’ll see it on tv or on the streets. Popeye had a tattoo but nobody complained. And isn’t it true that Ken was originally supposed to be Barbie’s brother? Calm down, focus on real problems. Not a TOY that your child isn’t even gonna read as far into as you did.

    • Anna

      Actually, Ken is named after the creator's son and Barbie is named after her daughter. The creator got the names of the dolls from her kids. So yes, the real Barbara and Kenneth are in fact brother and sister. :D

  • Korey

    Uh… It's a COLLECTOR DOLL!

    Why would you give your child a rare, $50 doll to play with? You know little girls play rough with their dolls. That's one.

    Point Two: Seriously, as a lover and fan of Barbie, I used her as a model to have a great career, a steady relationship/eventual marriage, to be family oriented, to furnish a home, to drive a car, dress well and be well groomed and have friends of all ethnicities. That is how I played with Barbie so those that that think she's a vapid piece of plastic, you obviously didn't play right or you didn't look at the doll through the right prism.

    Point Three: Again, parents are getting too damn involved in things they don't know crap about or even understand. The Playboy Club was cancelled because it was deemed too racy and sexist, when in fact, it was a well-scripted drama covering a lot of issues of the lives around the characters including: needing to start over, redefining the standards of beauty, gay rights, political aspirations, etc. But because people didn't like the package, the show was axed.

    It's the same thing here. Barbie has always been a reflection of the times… When she first came out, she caught flak because she had on makeup, had boobs and was shapely… She looked like a woman. Little girls grow up to be women. And what do women do? They choose careers, the drive cars, they purchase and arrange homes, the have relationships, they make friends, they groom and dress… all the things Barbie does. Barbie is a teaching tool. People have tattoos.People have babies.

    So for people to be in an uproar for a doll to be a reflection of a lifestyle choice is silly. You don't have to purchase the doll anyway. And frankly, this doll is not meant to played with. It 's meant to be collected and enjoyed. And chances are those parents that are collectors that will buy the doll obviously have no qualms with the doll's presence around children, why the hell should you?

  • http://www.CocoaBabies.com NenaJaye

    The fact that this father feels like Barbie should be a child's role model is disturbing in itself. This is a special edition Barbie that most children won't see because its marketed through their collectors catalogue (which I receive). She looks alot better than the bratz dolls that are marketed to children.

    The point is if you don't want to expose your child to it don't buy it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/XxWarriorGoddess1981xX Natasha Thomas

    I'm a mom of a 3YO daughter and I'll buy it, just for myself. It's about time there's a Barbie who is rockin' and edgy, just like me.

  • NEWHAIR5000

    lol simple,if you don't want your daughter to have one ,then don't get one.

  • Freddy

    Why do we automatically have to equate a look with a certain type of lifestyle? Just because a person has different colored hair and/or tattoos, that doesn't make them some sort of degenerate. I think these negative reactions to this are more reflective of our narrow-minded, prudish and judgmental society.

    • http://twitter.com/VaniecesPieces Diva In Transition

      Say that!  It’s a doll.  It’s not meant to raise your child or demonstrate model living.  That’s your job, Parents!  

  • Kayla

    Lol. If parents are looking at Barbie for role models for their kids, then that is a problem in itself. These parents are getting up in arms over a doll that was meant for adults. Meaning they are not going to be in KB Toys or Toys R' US. And it's not like any minors can strut in a tattoo parlor and get a tattoo anyways. Where where these same people when temporary tatts for kids came out??

    As long as they explain to the kid that she also understands that in addition to her "new age doll" that u cant get a job if you mark up ur face and body

  • IllyPhilly

    There's a lot wrong with Barbie that don't involve tattoos and pink hair. i.e. She's still too damn skinny, pale, no kids, no husband, but "sisters" really??? What kind of message is that to little girls??

    • Just saying

      What kind of message is it to send kids that you don't need kids or a husband to be successful? That having female friends and sisters is wrong? Please.

      FYI, there's a 'Tanning Barbie' and there's nothing wrong with being pale. Unless you want pasty white kids to think they're ugly too?

      • IllyPhilly

        You DON'T need a husband or boyfriend to be successful, but Barbie has had a boyfriend forever! Is that teaching girls it's okay to shack up? It's nothing wrong with having family, but at some point in the REAL world you start your own via kids! "Tanning" Barbie PLEASE! How about just Black, Spanish, and Asian Barbie and her barbie family? Pasty white kids as you said so "lovingly" said are all over the place, but most children grow up in an area where kids look like them, why shouldn't they have toys that look like them as well? I'm just saying

        • Korey

          Uh… Barbie NEVER had a queen-sized bed… her beds have always been a single… So where was Ken sleeping? On that tiny sofa? And seriously, think about it… Mattel gives the PARENTS and the PLAYER to decide if she and Ken should marry. Because if they made Ken and Barbie marry, Mattel would catch flak because they would be inciting that little girls have to get married… Same thing if Barbie were to have a kid… Mattel would catch flak for saying that little girls HAVE to have kids.

          Why do you think Mattel created Midge and Alan? Why do you think Mattel had Midge and Alan get married? And have kids? And created a pregnant Midge doll? It's up to the player and the parent. If you want a doll that reflects marriage and children, buy the Midge doll (you can find it on eBay). But guess the hell what? When they released pregnant Midge, there was STILL controversy! Damned if they do, damned if they dont.

          And Mattel DOES make the effort to create dolls that look like the consumer… but are the consumers buying it? More likely than not because consumers complain that it does not look like them. But how many of us are applying for creative jobs at Mattel? How many of us are creating our own dolls? And why is it that even when these dolls ARE made, like Shani, like Kenya, like Imani, like S.i.S., like MyScene, people don't buy them with the same enthusiam? Yes, it may be economics, yes it may be poor marketing, but are we expressing to the toy-makers? Are we pushing our youth to seek jobs in the toy industry? If we were, Mattel, Hasbro and the other companies would be listening.

          • Korey

            Sorry to be a Barbieologist but:

            Midge and Alan are Barbie and Ken's best friends respectively. They've been there since jump. The reason that you've never heard of them is because Midge comes in and out of the rotation. And Alan drops out for even longer periods of time. But when they DO come back, it's usually huge. It was huge when they got married and when they came back they came back with kids.

            Midge was create to off-set Barbie's "seemingly sexual" image. If you look, she had freckles, less makeup and is seemingly child-like.

        • Just saying

          There ARE Asian, Black, and Hispanic barbies. You really think they'd have a doll collection decades old without even acknowledging other races? They even managed to get their features similar.

    • ShouldntHave2Say

      Still jealous you didn't have Barbies when you were a kid?

      • ShouldntHave2Say

        To you. Yes, I grew up in the Christie and Steven, Shani and Jamal era of dolls but guess what? They weren't selling. Korey beat me to the punch with the last paragraph of her comment. Maybe if there were more Hispanics, Asians and Blacks on the creative end of the toy makers, maybe there would be an influx of melanin on the toy shelves.

    • Freddy

      lol you guys argue over dolls? get a life

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