Mommy I Want Plus Size Barbie

Plus Size Barbie On Modeling Site Sparks Debate Over Body Image

Instead of showing two extremes in Barbies, why don't they just make the normal Barbie to be an average size, like 10 or 12? She'd be just as pretty and more realistic anyways.

Or we could just have parents teach their daughters that dolls are dolls instead of realistic role models, and teach their sons that GI Joe is GI Joe, not a realistic role model. It just seems that teaching kids that this stuff exists and that it's not real would be the sensible thing to do.

Then again, I don't have kids so armchair parenting is probably not my strong suit anyways. xD

She's got more chins than a Chinese phone book. Pow!

All I can say is, looks like Google ads are being more aggressive than usual.

next thing~ is probably going to be a fat GI Joe

Seeing that Developmental Psychology is heavily influenced by Peer's and advertising, parent's would have a real struggle ahead of them to explain that and have it be the principle thought within a child's mind before Schema's are structured permanently.

This poses issues as well, it shows you're either super skinny, over overweight, they should scrap both and show a "healthy" version which would then be an arguably healthy role model to aspire to, however I'm sure people would still argue about self-esteem, such as children with health conditions that prevent then from being the "Ideal" weight.

I think the underlying thing is that these things will always exist, and we have an obligation to our children to try and educate them what is real and what is not. That said a 10~14 size Doll would be far more realistic and would at least be a middle ground or a Compromise.

This is a very touchy subject and I don't believe there is ever going to be a right answer, all we can do is try and hope what we get the message to our children and build their self-esteem around other things so that their self worth is not solely dependent upon their looks.

At the end of the day, it is a toy company. Their goal is to make profits, not to be role models.

As much of an influence as people say they have on people; it goes both ways. If the skinny barbies weren't selling like hot cakes, they wouldn't be making them.

This isn't exclusive to barbies, of course. It plays a role in hollywood, the news, etc. The reason Miley Cyrus is on the news over disasters over seas is because Miley gets more ratings, which generates greater profits.

The issue is with the people buying the barbies, giving the news stations the ratings for the ***they do broadcast, etc. I believe the public shapes advertising/the market just as much, if not more than it does us.

Just my take on it though

I have no problem with a fuller barbie, but the one shown with 3 chins isn't fuller, that is looking like unhealthy obesity. And What about Ken?!

They are both extremes of unhealthy images- that's the point of the artist.

If it is perfectly acceptable to display a Barbie with anorexia and removed ribs why not one with medical obesity?

"Regular" Barbie's proportions are not humanly possible without cosmetic surgery.


Jennifer Lopez is a very curvy woman, this doll is plain out insulting to any woman with an ***.

Agreed.

Unless something has changed recently, obesity will get you a discharge from the US military.

So, you want BALANCE!!?

no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

inb4 Barbie nerf

This is about as bad as putting 4 year old's in Beauty Pageant's.


Advertising is a Big issue, Radio, being one of the weaker forms as it is just Audio, the increase in sales attributable to radio advertising ranged from 0% in some cases to a high of 31%.

TV: TV paid back an average 4.55 times (that's a massive 455% increase).

Advertising has a huge influence, it's not Supply and demand, its advertise, create a social Pressure and increase demand through speculative ploys such as this.

Branding vs Non Branded foods, - Same price.
Everyone buys the Branded item because they "believe" through it will be better due to the advertising telling them it is.

People will buy the skinny Barbie due to a social and biological directive, which is "the need to reproduce" people will look at the adverts and think "is that sexually appealing" in turn they will try to emulate this to further increase their chances at Mating, as this succeeded people then continued to do this (easily seen with make-up) Advertising has a huge influence on people and can be seen across other species~

Birds Build Nests to "advertise their ability to build strong homes" but to get potential Mates to look at them, they sing @ Advertising is a very powerful force and people shouldn't under estimate it.

Extreme obesity, yeah. But if you're just ordinarily obese, you'll just get a profile saying you can't run...or do push ups, or do anything at all.

I'm gonna die laughing at this LOL

10-14 is not necessarily a "Healthy" weight or size. Depending on someone's build/ethnicity, size 4 or size 14 might be more realistic. That said, even though unrealistically skinny Barbie's may create body image issues in children, a plus-size Barbie creates the idea that being grossly overweight is acceptable. Being overweight causes major health issues throughout a person's life, and neither is the lesser evil. Instead of focusing on Barbie's waistline, we should be focusing on teaching children good eating habits and encouraging regular exercise.

Just because most of your peers are overweight doesn't make it ok.

My point still stands though. If tards didn't buy it, they wouldn't produce it. It still goes both ways. They only produce what they know will sell the most units.

But I will admit that more people than not are sheep and let the media tell them what to be attracted to.

I personally find either extreme of weight not to be attractive to me, so I'll come out and say that the media/Hollywood/etc. has failed in getting me to take in their perception of beauty, lol.

The only advertising I've ever really cared about is informative advertising. For example. DBZ budokai 4 (Infinite world) needed better advertising; and I don't mean some model holding the game, but for me to know the game existed to begin with. I didn't even know it came out until about 3 years too late. A simple commercial would have sold me on the game instantly.

On the other hand, my favorite drink is Cherry Coke Zero. I'm not going to go get a diet Pepsi instead because Brad Pitt or Jennifer Anniston drink it in a movie. How people fall for that ***I will never understand.

And who defines "overweight" and "healthy"? I can assure you it's societal norms not a primary care physician.

Just because most of your peers think you're overweight doesn't make it OK. America's definition of overweight is incredibly inaccurate.

You don't understand.

The current hottest plus size model, Robin Lawley is a size 10!!!

Waitafrickingminuet. Last I saw when I shopped plus size was either 12 or 14.

Personally I have once been able to wear a 9, and that was from Lord and Tailor.

Weight itself doesn't define overweight and/or unhealthy. It's determined by blood work and body fat%.

That's the problem they don't. We have society and mass media define what's healthy.

And as someone who sews, has sewn for a living, and subscribes to W, there is a good reason why the runways are full of size 0 - 2s.

The bigger women get the more individualistic their curves. Its sew* easy to make garments that hang well on any size 2, far less so on a random 7.

*pun intended

Edt: three chins is 22 1/2 - 24 1/2 territory. And unhealthy.

This is my point, 12~14 is perceived healthy, but I doubt someone with 3 chins could be deemed healthy.

It's just a Guideline I was using, and weight doesn't mean fat ~ You can be well toned be a good weight for your Height, and Build but only be a size 12 (due to Muscle being heavier than fat) but that's not even then point. Both of these examples of Barbie are ridiculous.

If they start making plus sized Real Dolls I am getting off this planet.

Hmmm. The resulting google image search was... jarring. Now if you will excuse me.