People are really pissed about the Girl Scout Barbie

[msmerymac]

jezebel.com/people-are-really-pissed-about-the-girl-scout-barbie-1608915253


As part of her new quest to become the world's most cross-branded elongated humanoid next door, Barbie is now teaming up with the Girl Scouts. As one would expect, many people are not having it.


"Girl Scout Barbie" is the result of a $2 million partnership between Mattel and Girl Scouts USA. The spoils of this partnership include a special-edition Girl Scout Barbie clad in pink, a Barbie-themed activity book, a special website and a Barbie-branded Girl Scout uniform patch that troops can earn once they write a topical essay about how capitalism is commoditizing the experience of childhood. Ha ha, just kidding; they get it for completing the Barbie booklet, which is all about the myriad career paths open to enterprising young women.



As the Washington Post points out, this effort is probably not the most efficacious way to encourage girls to "Be Anything. Do Everything," which is the official motto of the partnership. The "I Can Be..." game, for example, is mostly about matching work-related accessories to specific work outfits. ("Architects draw up big buildings," I am informed, via a caption beneath a drawing of a Barbie in a pastel dress and a fitted leather jacket: architect clothing, as we all learned in The Fountainhead. I'm shown four different Job Accessories options, and I pick a tube with some papers coming out of it. "Yes! Architects use blueprint holders to keep important blueprints safe," I am told. Wow. You learn something new every day.)


Wanting to teach girls that they can be whatever they want is certainly a laudable goal, but it's probably better to do so through focusing on what, specifically, women can accomplish in certain careers — not about how they look while doing so. Turning a career-encouraging exercise into a dress-up puzzle sort of defeats the purpose; at the very least, it's a hugely redundant message. While young girls are not often encouraged to go into STEM fields or to seek out executive positions, they're bombarded on a daily basis with messages teaching them to value their physical appearances above all else and to covet princess-y dress up shit. You can't really combat that cultural tendency by replicating it.



In addition to this, the usual criticism abounds: both the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and the Center for a New American Dream have encouraged Girl Scouts USA to break ties with Mattel, claiming that Barbie is a "terrible role model" for young girls. "While Mattel and the Barbie brand benefit enormously from GSUSA's endorsement, the partnership harms girls. In addition to encouraging sexualization, the Barbie brand idealizes a dangerously impossible body type," said the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood in a petition, citing research that shows that girls who play with Barbies at a young age are more likely to express dissatisfaction with their bodies.



The Campaign further argues that the Girl Scouts/Barbie website is "little more than an interactive ad" and that several of the Career Outfits that Barbie wears on the website "are worn by actual Barbies available for purchase." Independent research confirms that I Can Be an Architect Barbie comes with her own diminutive "blueprint holder," that classic architect accessory I learned about today, and that she's wearing the exact outfit I saw her in during the game. Of the other outfits I was shown during the "career game," several appear on the "Barbie Careers" section of the Mattel.com store. They should just change every doll's official name to I Can Be an Aspirational Consumer to eliminate confusion.



"We are tying the fun girls have playing with Barbie to an opportunity to gain insight into the careers of today and tomorrow, through patches and discovery along the way," Girl Scouts of the USA CEO Anna Maria Chávez said in a statement. Hey, who knows, maybe it will yield an army of pink-bespectacled career women to chip away at the glass ceiling in work-appropriate garb.

[mala]

Yeah, that annoys me. I'm not mad about it, persay, but annoyed for sure.

Also, I love the picture/quote in your siggy. LOVE.

[UMaineTeach]

not pissed, sorry.

[msmerymac]

This also reminds me of a story I heard on Markeplace yesterday about American Girl. It's no longer about the historical stories surrounding the dolls, now it's SO COMMERCIALIZED. Thanks, Mattel.

[Deleted]

Why wouldn't Barbie wear a green Girl Scout uniform.

I'm also a little sick of articles saying women don't go into STEM careers because for the first part, that is untrue. More women graduate with biology and chemistry degrees in this country. And it's not particularly lucrative or short of graduates. There are tons of BA/BSs in those fields who cannot find good jobs.

If they mean most engineering or computer science, say it.

[mbcdefg]

[pamela]

If they wanted to do this, Barbie needs to wear the real uniform. Not pink. Ugh.

[UMaineTeach]

Jul 25, 2014 7:59:26 GMT -5 @kcpokergal said:

Why wouldn't Barbie wear a green Girl Scout uniform.

I wondered that too, but from the little picture in the article, Barbie appears to have chosen the sash and street clothes uniform. She has a green sash, green hat, and pink shirt. She could have gone more full uniform, but sash/vest and street clothes are want I see most GS in around here.

[runblondie26]

I thought they already had a Girl Scout Barbie.

[UMaineTeach]

Although, really, who does Barbie think she's fooling in that Jr. GS uniform? We all know how old she is.

[josieposy]

This is not a reason to hate Barbie. The 30,000+ sq foot dream house at the Mall of America with its $24 admission price is a reason to hate Barbie.

[mbcdefg]

Jul 25, 2014 8:07:05 GMT -5 UMaineTeach said:

Jul 25, 2014 7:59:26 GMT -5 @kcpokergal said:

Why wouldn't Barbie wear a green Girl Scout uniform.

I wondered that too, but from the little picture in the article, Barbie appears to have chosen the sash and street clothes uniform. She has a green sash, green hat, and pink shirt. She could have gone more full uniform, but sash/vest and street clothes are want I see most GS in around here.

I didn't know that Girls Scouts had uniforms until I got older ... I was a Brownie but all we ever had was the sash, and several girls didn't even have that. I saw the uniforms in the handbook and thought that the only scouts who had uniforms were "rich girls" - probably due to watching Troop Beverly Hills.

[bimbi284]

You'd think she'd be wearing the brown uniforms to appeal more to the girls who might still be playing with Barbie dolls.
That said, the "official" GS shop sure features a lot of pink already.

[ringstrue]

meh - it sounds like its just Barbie haters in general. Its not like Barbie is going to become an integral part of the GS experience.

[sugarglider]

Jul 25, 2014 8:36:46 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

Jul 25, 2014 8:07:05 GMT -5 UMaineTeach said:

I wondered that too, but from the little picture in the article, Barbie appears to have chosen the sash and street clothes uniform. She has a green sash, green hat, and pink shirt. She could have gone more full uniform, but sash/vest and street clothes are want I see most GS in around here.

I didn't know that Girls Scouts had uniforms until I got older ... I was a Brownie but all we ever had was the sash, and several girls didn't even have that. I saw the uniforms in the handbook and thought that the only scouts who had uniforms were "rich girls" - probably due to watching Troop Beverly Hills.

Huh. We had to have the full uniform in my county, which is pretty low-income (also very LCOL). My troop was obsessed with Troop Beverly Hills, though, and had overnights at the local Holiday Inn, lol. Swimming badge?

Anyway, I'm not bothered by this. It could definitely be better, but it at least seems like a step in the right direction.

[whattheheck]

There are many, many issues with the whole Barbie thing.

First - GSUSA is deleting critical posts left and right from their facebook page. Not offensive posts - just posts critical of this partnership.

There is also the issue that the uniform she is wearing is for 4th and 5th Grade girls. We don't need them more sexualized than they already are. How old is Barbie supposed to be? Put her in the older/adult uniform and put Skipper, etc., in the younger girls uniforms.

GSUSA is getting further and further away from the ideals the JGL founded GS on. Outdoor skills programming is almost non-existent in my council. They keep changing the program (Handbooks, to Studio2B to these stupid fucking Journeys - new program BUY NEW BOOKS!!!) and the skills badges have been significantly reduced and are limited in the outdoors skills/activities area).

GSUSA keeps partnering with these national brands (barbie dolls, candy bars, ice cream) and that money is staying with GSUSA - it is not being distributed to councils to provide programming to the girls. But if a GS Troop wants to earn their own money - oh boy!!!! You MUST have participated in their Fall Product Sale, their Cookie Sale, and their Annual Giving Campaign. And then you cannot sell anything at all that has another brand attached it to - so we can't go a restaurant give back fundraiser, we can't do a bake sale and offer chips/etc., we can't ask for monetary donations to the troops directly.

It's more of a "straw that broke the camel's back" in my opinion. GSUSA seems to be all about money, money, money these days with none of that money making it to the girls.

[meshaliuknits]

Jul 25, 2014 8:11:35 GMT -5 runblondie26 said:

I thought they already had a Girl Scout Barbie.

Right? I thought Barbie had done it all already.

Sent from my EVO

[laurenpetro]

Jul 26, 2014 9:14:26 GMT -5 whattheheck said:

There are many, many issues with the whole Barbie thing.

First - GSUSA is deleting critical posts left and right from their facebook page. Not offensive posts - just posts critical of this partnership.

There is also the issue that the uniform she is wearing is for 4th and 5th Grade girls. We don't need them more sexualized than they already are. How old is Barbie supposed to be? Put her in the older/adult uniform and put Skipper, etc., in the younger girls uniforms.

GSUSA is getting further and further away from the ideals the JGL founded GS on. Outdoor skills programming is almost non-existent in my council. They keep changing the program (Handbooks, to Studio2B to these stupid fucking Journeys - new program BUY NEW BOOKS!!!) and the skills badges have been significantly reduced and are limited in the outdoors skills/activities area).

GSUSA keeps partnering with these national brands (barbie dolls, candy bars, ice cream) and that money is staying with GSUSA - it is not being distributed to councils to provide programming to the girls. But if a GS Troop wants to earn their own money - oh boy!!!! You MUST have participated in their Fall Product Sale, their Cookie Sale, and their Annual Giving Campaign. And then you cannot sell anything at all that has another brand attached it to - so we can't go a restaurant give back fundraiser, we can't do a bake sale and offer chips/etc., we can't ask for monetary donations to the troops directly.

It's more of a "straw that broke the camel's back" in my opinion. GSUSA seems to be all about money, money, money these days with none of that money making it to the girls.

Aside from the second part I'm all over this post (barbie = sexualization isn't something I can immediately get behind, but I digress.).

G is a JGS and just from the time she joined I can see a major shift. We're no longer allowed to do fundraisers for any group other than GS. WTF? And the Build A Bear patch? Come on.

[bluestreet]

Agreed that GSs have been getting off track. A few years ago I had to write a few emails because girls whose families contributed more money during a fundraiser were getting a fucking patch.

[mouse]

This is making me sad. My local council is pretty broken and has been for a long time, but I thought things were better at the national level.

But my daughter had a great time in Girl Scouts, went from a Juliette brownie, joined and awesome troop that took her through Cadette. She looked into going for her Gold Award, but I think the Journeys were a big turn-off for her. I was hoping it would give her structure to take on an ambitious project, but she felt like it was busy work. Overall, though despite the disorganization at the Council, she had a really positive experience and learned so much. (My personal favorite was when her troop organized the district camporee activities for something like 200 girls, as an 8th grader.)

[alexis]

This thread is bumming me out. I enjoyed GS as a kid and was looking forward to DD joining. But, Barbie and Build A Bear patches?Really?? There's plenty of marketing already aimed at kids. It doesn't need to be a part of all of all their activities too.

[AJL]

I started Girl Scouts as a 1st grader (Brownie) and am still a Girl Scout. I was active all the way through college. In high school and college, I had some amazing opportunities through Girl Scouts. Travel through Wider Ops. I learned back country camping and hiking. I designed and implemented community projects to earn my silver and gold awards. GS was huge in my life and I feel some regret that it won't be the same kind of experience for my daughter should she choose to join.

I'm disappointed in the branded partnering. I don't like it at all. I feel that GS has gotten so far from it's original mission, one might say you can't even really call it scouting.

[Deleted]

Jul 25, 2014 8:46:27 GMT -5 bimbi284 said:

You'd think she'd be wearing the brown uniforms to appeal more to the girls who might still be playing with Barbie dolls.
That said, the "official" GS shop sure features a lot of pink already.

Toys are usually advertised using models older than their actual targets because kids want to be like big kids.

So if you want a 6-year-old to want the toy, you feature a 10-year-old Girl Scout.