Just watching a TV program about redesigning Barbie to bring her up to date and bring falling sales back up.

How would you bring Barbie up to date?

• Transgender Barbie
• Emo Barbie
• Mermaid Barbie
• Curvy Barbie
• Fat friend
• More anatomically accurate
• Prettier make-up
• Remove the thigh gap
• Body piercing and tattoo
• Shorter thicker neck
• Other?

They have gone with one of the above.

Which would you choose?

what is Barbie losing sales to? Find out and copy that.

Or it could be that the modern generation of parents are less inclined to have their kids play with Barbie for some philosophical reason. In which case nothing is going to fix it.

party_pants said:

what is Barbie losing sales to? Find out and copy that.

Or it could be that the modern generation of parents are less inclined to have their kids play with Barbie for some philosophical reason. In which case nothing is going to fix it.

Perhaps computerised entertainment has led to the downfall of simple, inactive, physical toys.

dv said:

party_pants said:

what is Barbie losing sales to? Find out and copy that.

Or it could be that the modern generation of parents are less inclined to have their kids play with Barbie for some philosophical reason. In which case nothing is going to fix it.

Perhaps computerised entertainment has led to the downfall of simple, inactive, physical toys.

it could be something like that too. Or they’re into movie franchise toys. I heard on the radio this week that some Harry Potter Lego set is the top selling toy so far this Christmas season.

Perhaps try reconnecting with the girls who are the target audiences, and find out what they want?

btm said:

Perhaps try reconnecting with the girls who are the target audiences, and find out what they want?

Also, find out why mollwolfumble is interested.

Although brazillions of Barbies have been sold, it was always to a narrow consumer window – girls who are too old for baby dolls but not old enough to regard all dolls as childish.

Maybe that window has now narrowed even further, with girls discarding dolls at a younger age.

freckles

with daughter’s dolls when little we’d always give them freckles.

texta

she still remembers this, and knows why we did it.

The Barbie Museum

mollwollfumble said:

Just watching a TV program about redesigning Barbie to bring her up to date and bring falling sales back up.

How would you bring Barbie up to date?

• Transgender Barbie
• Emo Barbie
• Mermaid Barbie
• Curvy Barbie
• Fat friend
• More anatomically accurate
• Prettier make-up
• Remove the thigh gap
• Body piercing and tattoo
• Shorter thicker neck
• Other?

They have gone with one of the above.

Which would you choose?

Their original idea was mermaid Barbie. But that was rejected on the grounds that no-one would buy it.

They went with curvy Barbie. They did also experiment with removing the thigh gap.

They’re main problem with curvy Barbie that they had to overcome was twofold. One was backwards compatibility. Changing the height or shape had to done subtlely enough that Barbie would still fit in a bathtub, car seat, go through doors etc. The other was that young children still had to immediately identify the doll as Barbie and not say “Barbie is fat” or “tyatth not Barbie.

The person in charge of Barbie design received her own Barbie that she had played with as a child back recently. She found that Ken was dressed in Barbie’s clothes and Barbie and Midge in Ken’s clothes. But she failed to take the hint.

mollwollfumble would choose all of the above, except mermaid.

dv said:

btm said:

Perhaps try reconnecting with the girls who are the target audiences, and find out what they want?

Also, find out why mollwolfumble is interested.

For btm, the previous program on LEGO did exactly that. It survived because it gets the audience to design the new sets and piece shapes.

For dv, the answer to that depends if you want honesty or not. The dishonest answer is because Mrs m is a huge Barbie fan. She buys up Barbies and their clothing from Op shops, makes new clothing, and sends them overseas.

The honest answer, well, I think that the male market for Barbies has been completely overlooked. Bild Lily was originally a toy for men, sold in tobacconist shops. When the first Barbie was released on the market, they had no idea who was going to be the target market. There was huge resistance to making it at all.

mollwollfumble has designed and sewed up a new Barbie costume, not that long ago. One that is intended to appeal more to men. To accentuate Barbie’s best attributes.

transition said:

freckles

with daughter’s dolls when little we’d always give them freckles.

texta

she still remembers this, and knows why we did it.

Good idea. I hadn’t thought of that.

dv said:

party_pants said:

what is Barbie losing sales to? Find out and copy that.

Or it could be that the modern generation of parents are less inclined to have their kids play with Barbie for some philosophical reason. In which case nothing is going to fix it.

Perhaps computerised entertainment has led to the downfall of simple, inactive, physical toys.

Sales dropped for the first time in 1972. Computerised toys have to be a dominant reason, but that wasn’t mentioned in the TV show.

But the most recent was a crash in sales, a 12% drop in one year. When you think about it, the market has never been girls, it’s been mothers. So why have mothers stopped buying Barbies?

dv said:

The Barbie Museum

does it have the Klaus version?

ChrispenEvan said:

dv said:

The Barbie Museum

does it have the Klaus version?

That is the Klaus version.

ChrispenEvan said:

dv said:

The Barbie Museum

does it have the Klaus version?

Did you look at the video?

dv said:

ChrispenEvan said:

dv said:

The Barbie Museum

does it have the Klaus version?

Did you look at the video?

no.

party_pants said:

dv said:

party_pants said:

what is Barbie losing sales to? Find out and copy that.

Or it could be that the modern generation of parents are less inclined to have their kids play with Barbie for some philosophical reason. In which case nothing is going to fix it.

Perhaps computerised entertainment has led to the downfall of simple, inactive, physical toys.

it could be something like that too. Or they’re into movie franchise toys. I heard on the radio this week that some Harry Potter Lego set is the top selling toy so far this Christmas season.

Themed Lego is really quite good, interesting to build and the effort gone into designing it is great.
I bought my son the Saturn 5 the other week, has nearly 1500 pieces, its not just has a shell but has all the internal workings (within reason) and each stage of the rocket is built separate and joins together each with own thrusters

Cymek said:

party_pants said:

dv said:

Perhaps computerised entertainment has led to the downfall of simple, inactive, physical toys.

it could be something like that too. Or they’re into movie franchise toys. I heard on the radio this week that some Harry Potter Lego set is the top selling toy so far this Christmas season.

Themed Lego is really quite good, interesting to build and the effort gone into designing it is great.
I bought my son the Saturn 5 the other week, has nearly 1500 pieces, its not just has a shell but has all the internal workings (within reason) and each stage of the rocket is built separate and joins together each with own thrusters

Agree.

Back to Barbie. I did a bit of thinking and asked Barbie fan mrs m why sales had been falling.

Because the marker is mothers rather than children, it occurred to me that mothers buy Barbie in order to shut their children up. By giving daughters a mother substitute, they can play with imitation mother. In order to appeal to this market, Barbie and friends need to match as closely as possible the body type of real mothers. Because of the global increase in weight, Barbie’s shape is now totally wrong.

The second reason is the quality of clothes. That’s why girls used to like Barbie, because the quality of clothes was so good. Good fabrics, properly lined on both sides with perfect stitching. That’s all gone now, the quality of clothes is nowhere near as good. So Barbie needs expensive clothes again, such as properly tailored evening gowns.

The third thing that Barbie needs to do is to set up a room with dozens of difference sized and shaped dolls, and let mothers loose in there, those mothers who have never played with a Barbie would be a good start. And watch what they gravitate towards and are attracted-repelled by. Also straight on, side on and three quarters profile views on internet and get votes on what different people like the best.

mollwollfumble said:

Cymek said:

party_pants said:

it could be something like that too. Or they’re into movie franchise toys. I heard on the radio this week that some Harry Potter Lego set is the top selling toy so far this Christmas season.

Themed Lego is really quite good, interesting to build and the effort gone into designing it is great.
I bought my son the Saturn 5 the other week, has nearly 1500 pieces, its not just has a shell but has all the internal workings (within reason) and each stage of the rocket is built separate and joins together each with own thrusters

Agree.

Back to Barbie. I did a bit of thinking and asked Barbie fan mrs m why sales had been falling.

Because the marker is mothers rather than children, it occurred to me that mothers buy Barbie in order to shut their children up. By giving daughters a mother substitute, they can play with imitation mother. In order to appeal to this market, Barbie and friends need to match as closely as possible the body type of real mothers. Because of the global increase in weight, Barbie’s shape is now totally wrong.

The second reason is the quality of clothes. That’s why girls used to like Barbie, because the quality of clothes was so good. Good fabrics, properly lined on both sides with perfect stitching. That’s all gone now, the quality of clothes is nowhere near as good. So Barbie needs expensive clothes again, such as properly tailored evening gowns.

The third thing that Barbie needs to do is to set up a room with dozens of difference sized and shaped dolls, and let mothers loose in there, those mothers who have never played with a Barbie would be a good start. And watch what they gravitate towards and are attracted-repelled by. Also straight on, side on and three quarters profile views on internet and get votes on what different people like the best.

Perhaps Barbie is just boring and irrelevant today

Cymek said:

Perhaps Barbie is just boring and irrelevant today

That’s what people were saying about LEGO in 1998.

Then they introduced the LEGO Mindstorms – programmable robotics.

Then other innovations: LEGO Architecture (for professional architects), LEGO computer games and the LEGO movie.

And most of all, they introduced the company concept that “99.99% of intelligent people don’t work for LEGO”, so got the fans to design new LEGO pieces and projects.

Now we have three aluminium LEGO pieces, designed by NASA, in far outer space.

mollwollfumble said:

Cymek said:

Perhaps Barbie is just boring and irrelevant today

That’s what people were saying about LEGO in 1998.

Then they introduced the LEGO Mindstorms – programmable robotics.

Then other innovations: LEGO Architecture (for professional architects), LEGO computer games and the LEGO movie.

And most of all, they introduced the company concept that “99.99% of intelligent people don’t work for LEGO”, so got the fans to design new LEGO pieces and projects.

Now we have three aluminium LEGO pieces, designed by NASA, in far outer space.

I’m surprised Lego hasn’t branched into various probes and landers and made them movable

mollwollfumble said:

Cymek said:

Perhaps Barbie is just boring and irrelevant today

That’s what people were saying about LEGO in 1998.

Then they introduced the LEGO Mindstorms – programmable robotics.

Then other innovations: LEGO Architecture (for professional architects), LEGO computer games and the LEGO movie.

And most of all, they introduced the company concept that “99.99% of intelligent people don’t work for LEGO”, so got the fans to design new LEGO pieces and projects.

Now we have three aluminium LEGO pieces, designed by NASA, in far outer space.

It is around that time that Lego got into movie franchise deals, firstly with Star Wars The Phantom Menace and later Hairy Potter, Batman and a few others.

dv said:

like

mollwollfumble said:

Back to Barbie. I did a bit of thinking and asked Barbie fan mrs m why sales had been falling.

Because the marker is mothers rather than children, it occurred to me that mothers buy Barbie in order to shut their children up. By giving daughters a mother substitute, they can play with imitation mother. In order to appeal to this market, Barbie and friends need to match as closely as possible the body type of real mothers. Because of the global increase in weight, Barbie’s shape is now totally wrong.

The second reason is the quality of clothes. That’s why girls used to like Barbie, because the quality of clothes was so good. Good fabrics, properly lined on both sides with perfect stitching. That’s all gone now, the quality of clothes is nowhere near as good. So Barbie needs expensive clothes again, such as properly tailored evening gowns.

The third thing that Barbie needs to do is to set up a room with dozens of difference sized and shaped dolls, and let mothers loose in there, those mothers who have never played with a Barbie would be a good start. And watch what they gravitate towards and are attracted-repelled by. Also straight on, side on and three quarters profile views on internet and get votes on what different people like the best.

Wtf

Dolls are given to girls to spur maternal development. What “motherly body types” have to do with anything, I have no idea. Barbie’s body shape has always been disproportionate and nothing to do with the average weight of women in 2018.

The clothes are irrelevant. One can buy Barbie-fitting clothes at markets, online or grannies can stitch them. There have always been knock-off Barbie brand clothes which have been just as popular as the clothes Barbies come with.

I’m sure the R and D team at Mattel do just that: set kids loose in a room full of different dolls. It doesn’t matter if mothers played with Barbies as girls: mothers do not buy Barbies “to shut their kids up”. If kids don’t want a Barbie, giving them one won’t shut them up. Kids these days play with all sorts of toys. Licensed merchandise from TV shows and movies are extremely popular (research Paw Patrol, which started as merchandise and they created a show around it. Also research the merchandising of Frozen.) Disney is a juggernaut in terms of merchandising. They were the first company to merch off a film, it took other studios nearly 40 years to cotton onto the idea.

Mattel have tried to update Barbie through the years: changed her measurements, given her a ton of different jobs, created narratives for her such as Ken, cousins, divorcing Ken etc, giving Barbie movies and TV shows… sales are still falling. There is increased competition. In the early 2000s the Bratz dolls were the most popular dolls. Nowadays kids like interactive dolls, ones that cry and poop. Cabbage Patch Kids are currently popular because mothers used to play with them and nostalgia is a huge incentive for buying old-school toys (same as My Little Pony and Care Bears). Mothers who didn’t play with Barbies are not going to buy them for their own daughters.

Finally, there is a movement towards STEM toys for all children. Take another look at that cartoon DV posted. Traditionally, boys are given toys that they can create with, and girls are given dolls. Modern mothers know that girls can do anything boys can do, and that is reflected in the toy market.

Divine Angel said:

mollwollfumble said:

Back to Barbie. I did a bit of thinking and asked Barbie fan mrs m why sales had been falling.

Because the marker is mothers rather than children, it occurred to me that mothers buy Barbie in order to shut their children up. By giving daughters a mother substitute, they can play with imitation mother. In order to appeal to this market, Barbie and friends need to match as closely as possible the body type of real mothers. Because of the global increase in weight, Barbie’s shape is now totally wrong.

The second reason is the quality of clothes. That’s why girls used to like Barbie, because the quality of clothes was so good. Good fabrics, properly lined on both sides with perfect stitching. That’s all gone now, the quality of clothes is nowhere near as good. So Barbie needs expensive clothes again, such as properly tailored evening gowns.

The third thing that Barbie needs to do is to set up a room with dozens of difference sized and shaped dolls, and let mothers loose in there, those mothers who have never played with a Barbie would be a good start. And watch what they gravitate towards and are attracted-repelled by. Also straight on, side on and three quarters profile views on internet and get votes on what different people like the best.

Wtf

Dolls are given to girls to spur maternal development. What “motherly body types” have to do with anything, I have no idea. Barbie’s body shape has always been disproportionate and nothing to do with the average weight of women in 2018.

The clothes are irrelevant. One can buy Barbie-fitting clothes at markets, online or grannies can stitch them. There have always been knock-off Barbie brand clothes which have been just as popular as the clothes Barbies come with.

I’m sure the R and D team at Mattel do just that: set kids loose in a room full of different dolls. It doesn’t matter if mothers played with Barbies as girls: mothers do not buy Barbies “to shut their kids up”. If kids don’t want a Barbie, giving them one won’t shut them up. Kids these days play with all sorts of toys. Licensed merchandise from TV shows and movies are extremely popular (research Paw Patrol, which started as merchandise and they created a show around it. Also research the merchandising of Frozen.) Disney is a juggernaut in terms of merchandising. They were the first company to merch off a film, it took other studios nearly 40 years to cotton onto the idea.

Mattel have tried to update Barbie through the years: changed her measurements, given her a ton of different jobs, created narratives for her such as Ken, cousins, divorcing Ken etc, giving Barbie movies and TV shows… sales are still falling. There is increased competition. In the early 2000s the Bratz dolls were the most popular dolls. Nowadays kids like interactive dolls, ones that cry and poop. Cabbage Patch Kids are currently popular because mothers used to play with them and nostalgia is a huge incentive for buying old-school toys (same as My Little Pony and Care Bears). Mothers who didn’t play with Barbies are not going to buy them for their own daughters.

Finally, there is a movement towards STEM toys for all children. Take another look at that cartoon DV posted. Traditionally, boys are given toys that they can create with, and girls are given dolls. Modern mothers know that girls can do anything boys can do, and that is reflected in the toy market.

Thank you Divine Angel. Much appreciated. I had to look up STEM, I hadn’t heard of it.

Doll play has become an important part of psychology, an extension of transactional analysis as well as rearranging family and work groups.

mollwollfumble said:

Thank you Divine Angel. Much appreciated. I had to look up STEM, I hadn’t heard of it.

o.O

dv said:

mollwollfumble said:

Thank you Divine Angel. Much appreciated. I had to look up STEM, I hadn’t heard of it.

o.O

+1

I just want to expand on the Disney merchandising. I consider myself a bit of an expert on the subject.

Walt Disney first sold the licensing rights to Mickey Mouse in the early 1920s, to finance his other projects. The first Mickey Mouse licensed product was a children’s school slate. In time, Disney sold the rights to other characters so that people could buy Donald Duck bread, Goofy orange juice and Minnie Mouse milk.

With Disney’s first full-length animated movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, one was able to purchase the sheet music from the film, a Snow White toy box and Snow White dolls. Walt continued to sell licensing rights in order to finance the company: everything from paying his employees to creating more works. During WWII, Disney was paid by the US government to create propanganda pieces against the Japanese (some of these short films, along with Disney’s short film about menstruation, can be found on YouTube).

It wasnt until 1977’s Star Wars that other studios cottoned onto the idea that people want to take home a piece of the film’s magic. Coincidentally, Disney now own the rights to Star Wars and associated merch.

With regards to the Disney film Frozen, the film was not intended to be a blockbuster. Within 9 months of the film’s release, Disney realised that associated merch was selling out, and began to sell the rights to everyone who wanted them. That’s why you see _Frozen_-themed everything, from car air fresheners to cereal to clothes and everything in between.

If you’d like to research this history a bit more, I suggest reading Janet Wasko.

Divine Angel said:

mollwollfumble said:

Back to Barbie. I did a bit of thinking and asked Barbie fan mrs m why sales had been falling.

Because the marker is mothers rather than children, it occurred to me that mothers buy Barbie in order to shut their children up. By giving daughters a mother substitute, they can play with imitation mother. In order to appeal to this market, Barbie and friends need to match as closely as possible the body type of real mothers. Because of the global increase in weight, Barbie’s shape is now totally wrong.

The second reason is the quality of clothes. That’s why girls used to like Barbie, because the quality of clothes was so good. Good fabrics, properly lined on both sides with perfect stitching. That’s all gone now, the quality of clothes is nowhere near as good. So Barbie needs expensive clothes again, such as properly tailored evening gowns.

The third thing that Barbie needs to do is to set up a room with dozens of difference sized and shaped dolls, and let mothers loose in there, those mothers who have never played with a Barbie would be a good start. And watch what they gravitate towards and are attracted-repelled by. Also straight on, side on and three quarters profile views on internet and get votes on what different people like the best.

Wtf

Dolls are given to girls to spur maternal development. What “motherly body types” have to do with anything, I have no idea. Barbie’s body shape has always been disproportionate and nothing to do with the average weight of women in 2018.

The clothes are irrelevant. One can buy Barbie-fitting clothes at markets, online or grannies can stitch them. There have always been knock-off Barbie brand clothes which have been just as popular as the clothes Barbies come with.

I’m sure the R and D team at Mattel do just that: set kids loose in a room full of different dolls. It doesn’t matter if mothers played with Barbies as girls: mothers do not buy Barbies “to shut their kids up”. If kids don’t want a Barbie, giving them one won’t shut them up. Kids these days play with all sorts of toys. Licensed merchandise from TV shows and movies are extremely popular (research Paw Patrol, which started as merchandise and they created a show around it. Also research the merchandising of Frozen.) Disney is a juggernaut in terms of merchandising. They were the first company to merch off a film, it took other studios nearly 40 years to cotton onto the idea.

Mattel have tried to update Barbie through the years: changed her measurements, given her a ton of different jobs, created narratives for her such as Ken, cousins, divorcing Ken etc, giving Barbie movies and TV shows… sales are still falling. There is increased competition. In the early 2000s the Bratz dolls were the most popular dolls. Nowadays kids like interactive dolls, ones that cry and poop. Cabbage Patch Kids are currently popular because mothers used to play with them and nostalgia is a huge incentive for buying old-school toys (same as My Little Pony and Care Bears). Mothers who didn’t play with Barbies are not going to buy them for their own daughters.

Finally, there is a movement towards STEM toys for all children. Take another look at that cartoon DV posted. Traditionally, boys are given toys that they can create with, and girls are given dolls. Modern mothers know that girls can do anything boys can do, and that is reflected in the toy market.

Hold on, Barbie & Ken got divorced?

dv said:

mollwollfumble said:

Thank you Divine Angel. Much appreciated. I had to look up STEM, I hadn’t heard of it.

o.O

O….k….

Oh yes, barbie and Ken split up and Barbie was “friendly” with an Australian surfer named Blaine. They rekindled after Ken had a makeover, which is another narrative that one has to change one’s self in order to find a soulmate, but that’s another story.

https://www.foxnews.com/story/barbie-and-ken-its-over

This morning in Big W, all the plain Barbie dolls were $5. The ones that come with accessories eg car, ponies, little sister etc were $20-$30.