A Plastic Girl in a Plastic World: Mattel Opens $30 Million Shanghai House of Barbie

A Plastic Girl in a Plastic World: Mattel Opens $30 Million Shanghai House of Barbie
Feb 01, 2009 By Fred Dintenfass , eChinacities.com

“They probably do have an Asian Barbie,” historian Iris Chang once said. What bothered her was the lack omission of an Asian Barbie from the 2000 Presidential Line. Chang, author of “The Rape of Nanking” died of apparent suicide in 2004, long enough to see the 2004 Barbie for President Asian Doll Toys ‘R Us Exclusive hit (select) shelves, but not long enough to see the ’08 version. I doubt it really would have made her all that happy and I don’t think she would ever have set foot in the 30 million dollar Barbie store opening officially this March in Shanghai.

The 6 story, 3400 square meter, House of Barbie will be the largest in the world. According to the official website, itself an overdose of pinkness, “Step into the glamorous Barbie® Shanghai Flagship Store, and enter a world where you can experience the ultimate Barbie® fantasy. From incredible shopping to the interactive design center, it’s a place where girls can be girls and where dreams really do come true!”


Shanghai House of Barbie employees

Dream fulfillment comes in the form of – I really have to let the promotional material speak for itself on this one, “a real fashion runway, full-service day spa, doll design center, and more, there are over 1,600 Barbie® products available, including apparel, jewelry, skin-care products, toys, electronic products, cosmetics, games, and other exciting goodies girls of all ages will love. Spend an unforgettable day,” and no doubt a load of money, “at Barbie® Shanghai – there’s nothing else like it anywhere.”

The cafe will be serving up something called a Barbitini. It’s unclear whether this is a drink for children or a way for parents to dull the pain. The new Shanghai Barbie is going to cost at least 340 yuan, maybe double that, and one has to assume Mattel will be struggling mightily to recoup it’s 30 million dollar investment. I’m guessing the Barbitinis won’t be cheap.


Shanghai Barbie and Best Friend (l to r)

It seems that not all of the shoppers will be young girls and their soon to be in debt parents. China.org.cn reports, “24-year-old, Guo Jingyi, has just signed up for her VIP card. And she is excited as she just received her first Barbie doll,” wait for it…, “last year, from her mother as a birthday present.” Still Mattel, which recently laid off 1,000 workers, is betting heavily on the House of Barbie to keep them from the poor house.

 

 

Sales of dolls have been down in recent years but Barbie has diversified, she now hawks Barbie DVD and MP3 players. Always flexible, Barbie has had 45 nationalities and more than 100 careers in her 50 year history and Mattel is hoping people jumping from job to job themselves will still be willing to buy.


Other China Barbies

Richard Dickson, senior VP of worldwide consumer products for Mattel Brands – manufacturers of Hot Wheels and American Girl Dolls, amongst other youthful delights – chirps, “you can imagine during those 50 years there's been lots of political turmoil and ups and downs in the economy… Barbie's been there.” Not only that but the impossibly proportioned plastic personality isn’t going anywhere, “Barbie will always be there. And so we're excited about our future, despite the fact that there are difficult times. The truth is, the Barbie brand is a happy brand, moms and dads are always looking to please their little girls."
 
The little hunk of plastic inspires similar glowing from designer Vera Wang who has designed apparel for the Shanghai Barbie which apparently, “exude[s] glamour, elegance, and femininity.” Reality, however, is not part of the equation. Though Mattel trumpets “We Believe in Girls Dreams”, the doll inspires some impossible ones. Adolescent Psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg writes, “If Barbie were real, the length of her legs in proportion to her torso would make her unable to walk.”


2008 Asian Presidential Barbie

Mattel has had some difficulties in China and in 2007 formally apologized to over a recall of its own toys in China. Coming amidst a wave of recalls of Chinese products abroad, many in the west were infuriated by Mattel apologizing to China for harming the reputation of Chinese manufacturers. According to Dickson, the House of Barbie has been in the works for several years and chose Shanghai because it’s the world’s, “most modern and fashionable city.”
Many fear that the House of Barbie will be a place where outdated, impossible images of women will be packaged, in many shades of pink, and sold to young girls; and maybe some not-so-young girls as well. Shanghai Barbie has blonde hair, a sign which surely doesn’t bode well for attempts at localization. What exactly is the House of Barbie importing: toys, an unattainable ideal of western beauty, the pinkest way for parents and not so young girls to spend their money?

 

 


Mattel executive meets with China’s product safety chief, 2007

"What we found in China that was different than any place else was that there are other generations that respond to it as well,” explains Gene Murtha, vice president of Int'l Business Development, Mattel Inc., ”there are essentially four generations that are compressed and that never had the chance to experience Barbie as they grew up." What’s so wrong about that?

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