If you get The Herald, you can read in La Femme on Wednesday how Barbie has beaten the Bratz. And for those of you who don’t have pre-school daughters: that’s Mattel’s Barbie doll winning a court battle against MGA’s Bratz dolls.
The end result means that you won’t be able to buy Bratz anymore, because Barbie has knocked 
the usurpers off the perch that was hers for so long. Barbie, in case you didn’t know, is 40 something, and the Bratz only seven years old – probably the same age as their biggest fans.
the usurpers off the perch that was hers for so long. Barbie, in case you didn’t know, is 40 something, and the Bratz only seven years old – probably the same age as their biggest fans."Few parents will shed a tear at this turn of events," wrote The Telegraph reporter Sarah Vine. "Despite her reputation as an anti-feminist fantasy, Barbie’s plastic smile and unfeasible chest-to-waist ratio are as nothing faced with the unalloyed trashiness of the Bratz dolls."
She continued in the same biting vein: “Barbie may have ridiculous breasts but at least she is not parcelled up to look like jailbait while the four core Bratz characters, with their ostentatiously ‘street’ styling and abrasive attitude, are the Pussycat Dolls of the toy world.
"Overtly sexualised, fashion and fame-obsessed, the principal Bratz pursuits are dressing up, going out, parading about in front of a microphone and doing their make-up. They come pre-daubed in garish eyeshadow and mascara, with glossy, collagen-enhanced lips and distinctly minxy, come-hither expressions. They make Barbie look like a Sunday school teacher.Infuriatingly, little girls love them – in much the same way as little girls used to love Barbie."
You must have seen them on the shelves ... Barbie mermaids and princesses compete with Bratz who look more Paris and Britney than Pocohantas and Cinderella. Both are vacuous, but for me the scales tilt in favour of old-fashioned fairy tales and away from cheap glamour and empty celebrity.
You must have seen them on the shelves ... Barbie mermaids and princesses compete with Bratz who look more Paris and Britney than Pocohantas and Cinderella. Both are vacuous, but for me the scales tilt in favour of old-fashioned fairy tales and away from cheap glamour and empty celebrity.
Who knows, though, in another 40 years maybe the Bratz will seem as wholesome as bran muffins ... and Barbie will be pushing up daisies or steering her zimmer frame around an old age home.
Conceivably, Mattel, having won its court case, should own the Bratz concept which would make Barbie and the girls ... hmm, new best friends?
Posts
1 comment:
My daughter loves them both. The only problem is that both of them are overpriced high maintenance girls.
Post a Comment