Barbie is one of the best selling toys of all times and it is rare to come across a little girl who does not have a Barbie of her own. It is more often to come across girls who have large collections of this doll. This represents a huge business opportunity for the toy manufacturer Mattel which also sells a whole lot of merchandise with Barbie images. However, this doll has been the subject of raging controversies for almost as long as she has been on sale.

The problem lies with the way Barbie looks. She is blond and blue eyed and has physical dimensions that are impossible for a living female to match. As a matter of fact, a real woman who has Barbie’s dimensions would find it impossible to walk on tiny feet. The waist would be too small to house a normal digestive system and the large breasts would cause her to keel over.

It is common knowledge that women take on a lot of pressure to conform to unrealistic expectations of beauty. The earlier a woman believes that she is not beautiful and has to take remedial measures to conform to popular standards of beauty, the more difficult will her life be. She is very likely to suffer from feelings of inferiority and depression and these feelings will haunt her throughout her life. These are also women more likely to resort to extreme surgical methods to look beautiful.

This problem is compounded by the fact that Barbie images are to be found almost anywhere in the world. Of course, the company tries to change its Barbie images to suit different cultures. You do come across dark skinned Barbies with dark hair and eyes to match, but they are still very different from the beauty norm of that particular country.

While toy manufacturers do have a responsibility towards society, one cannot put the blame entirely on them. Parents have a bigger role to play on how their daughters are raised. In ideal circumstances, a toy is only one part of a child’s experience and learning process. The child actually learns about life by looking at people around her and how they dress and behave. Since this would normally be the child’s parents, it follows that they have the biggest role in raising her and teaching her about the world.

If the mother of the child has unhealthy eating habits such as fad diets or if she is obsessed about her looks, then it is very likely that the daughter will follow in her footsteps. One cannot expect toys to undo what has already been taught in the house.

It is actually possible to use Barbie images for positive effect. Since there are so many varieties of the doll available, parents can choose to buy Barbie as an astronaut or a teacher or a doctor for their impressionable young daughters. If parents take the trouble to choose the Barbie images they want their daughters exposed to, they can reduce the negative impact that these toys have on growing minds.

Author Bio: I am basically a graduate at the University of Hamburg and you can get awesome articles and valid information from the ones which I submit specially for you to take a look at. Check out Barbie Images, Barbie Graphics or Barbie Pictures.

Category: Recreation
Keywords: Barbie images, Mattel, controversies, positive image, unrealistic expectations of beauty