Barbie’s are a girl’s best friend. I would know, growing up as a little girl, I had hundreds of them! I loved their clothes, the dream house and of course, the hot red convertible. It seems to be the norm that girls play with Barbie’s growing up, or really any type of doll, at least here in Canada. They have become an iconic figure that has heavy influence on ideal of body image, fashion and they even stress an emphasis on happy endings. Mattel really goes above and beyond to ensure that Barbie remains a “positive symbol” for young girls. Which is why, when I saw this video by Greenpeace, I just had to share it. Greenpeace is essentially blaming Mattel for deforestation of our world’s rainforest due to the shear amount of packaging used to sell Barbie’s. As a little girl playing, I didn’t care about packaging or even thought of how my Barbie might be harming the environment; I just wanted the hot pink cocktail dress complete with shoes, accessories and a matching tux for Ken.
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Purposeful Play 
I think Greenpeace took a really interesting approach to their point. Bit of entertainment mixed with a smidge of shock value.
Although the video is quite funny, I think that Greenpeace has picked a really strange focus for the idea of “over-packaging”.
Sure there’s a lot of packaging involved with Barbie… But look at any other toy… They’re all the same.
I don’t find this really effective, it is a kids toy after all, I don’t think there’s a huge market that’s going to stop buying Barbie after seeing this. They should’ve focused on something more relevant to the general population.
I totally agree with you, people will continue to buy Barbie , regardless of how they package it! =)
Barbie is an iconic figure,it’s been around for decades, especially here in North America. I doubt there is a man, woman or child that does not know Barbie! Which is a reason why I think they choose Barbie, plus they could use a humorous approach to gain attention and create buzz!
I would like to know what’s considered too much packaging? Would Matt’s toys be considered to have to much? How about the Twig manufactured by the toy company he sold it to, do they use even more packaging than Matt? Could that potentially affect what AroundSquare stands for??!!
Thanks for the post!! It’s kind of fun to get to have convos around random stuff!!
I thought this video was unique and interesting. I don’t know how impactful the messaging is, because as previously stated, Barbie is an iconic toy that people will buy regardless of the packaging. I would also like to know how Greenpeace would measure what is an acceptable amount of packaging for toys. I would think they would have a difficult time accepting most toys these days. Seems almost like an uphill battle to start fighting it. That being said, it’s always great to raise awareness around the issue.
Ami! This video was hilarious! I really wonder who it’s targeted to – it’s not children, but I don’t think parents would be watching it either, so I have to wonder how effective it is at getting it’s point across.
I agree, this is definitely not targeted to children!
When I went on the Greenpeace website, this is what it said:
“Creating the future of play, shouldn’t mean no future for rainforests.” It sort of like a social justice/environment movement and could be meant to appeal to those who share these thoughts as well.
I mean I loved my Barbies when I was little, but look how Ken is perceived, he is actually, well, Dumb. Are these the current perceptions of these toys? How will Matt’s toys compare to mainstream toys?!
Clearly his focus is on creative play, but how is he going to break through the stereotypical toy and make his more desired by children!!