Inappropriate Barbie Dolls Millennials Grew Up With
Reading Time: 5 minutesWhile Mattel created these dolls with pure and fun intentions, adults see problematic imagery decades past their shelf life.
No, Earring Magic Ken is not ‘Controversial’.
Mattel has been producing hundreds of new Barbie doll concepts each year since 1959, after Ruth Handler was first enchanted by Germany's Bild Lilli, and as production technology has been steadily improving since the 1960s, Mattel has found new ways to innovate the toy line with everything from bold fashions to creative playsets, while also staying ahead of current trends.
With that said, the company has had a few controversial ideas that on paper, likely seemed innocent and sweet, but when executed, brought out the worst in adult collectors and in concerned parents.
The 1990s saw plenty of Barbie related controversies, such as the strange, hateful and bizarre craze that surrounded Earring Magic Ken, when bigots began swearing that not only was Ken, pictured dancing with Barbie on the back of the box, now seeking a boyfriend just because he wore an earring and a mesh shirt, but that he was sporting a sexual aid device on his chain, when the box and the commercials clearly showed all of the Earring Magic dolls wearing identical chains so that Millennial kids could swap the accessory charm on the end of the loop with either their own charms or charms each doll came with.
Perhaps if the Earring Magic line wasn't one of several based off of nightclub attire, adults wouldn't have been looking for a reason to be angry, but this was far from the only Barbie line that raised eyebrows in the 1990s.
‘Hawaiian’ Is Not A Costume
What started life as a summertime concept for vacationing fashion dolls quickly turned into an unsavory discussion on race relations when Mattel released the Hawaiian Fun line of Barbie dolls and playsets in 1990, with the crown jewel of the line being an ice shaving playset, letting Millennials make ‘Hawaiian ice’ by pouring Kool-Aid packets onto crushed ice made with a plastic coconut.
With the text removed, it may appear as though Barbie is on an expensive vacation with costumes and resort items furnished by Oriental Trading with her boyfriend Ken, younger sister Skipper, younger cousin Jazzie, and friends Steven, Christie and Kira, with some markets getting alternative ‘Barbies’ in different costumes.
But many of the outfits Millennials could purchase for the vacationing group imply that the dolls are dressing as though they are Hawaiian, when none of them are.
This treaded over the lines of 1975's Hawaiian Barbie and Ken, in which Gen X kids could choose to purchase either Caucasian Barbie and Ken in summer attire, or deep skinned, dark haired, visibly indigenous Barbie and Ken in ‘Hula’ inspired costumes. It seems creating a Hawaiian heritage having friend for Barbie should have been easy, and yet no Polynesian friends for Barbie were created for this line.
This was repeated in 1996 with Hula Hair Barbie, where Barbie, Theresa and Shani's Asha (in some markets, incorrectly named Christie) appear in sunset-rainbow colored hair with sparkling hula skirts, again, ‘acting’ Hawaiian.
While the Barbie line would become more racially diverse and sensitive towards cultural appropriation by the late 2010s, it was a long journey of missteps before the trend of dressing Barbie as another race quietly vanished.
The Barbie Invited To Bild Lilli's Party
On paper, 1999's Birthday party Barbie looked like the party doll of the future.
Using a button in the back of the doll, Barbie, Theresa and Christie (in some markets, marketed as ‘Barbie’ but in different skin colors) could push air through their pursed lips, so they could blow up tiny, mylar balloons each doll came with, or blow out the candles on the birthday cake. Each doll came in a silly, colorful and fun dress, with balloons, cake and party treats Millennials could share with other dolls. Some kids even found that the mechanic on the doll was so strong, you could even have the doll blow bubbles from a wand.
But cheeky adults had to crash the party by throwing a fit over Barbie's pursed lips.
Likening her pose to that of adult film stars, parents were convinced that Barbie was blowing out more than just birthday candles, and jokes began flooding chain email letters across America about Barbie engaging in much of the same sexual activity that poor Earring Magic Ken had been erroneously accused of years earlier.
Slow Down, Baby Sis
Skipper has seen her fair share of controversy. If it's not parents freaking out when she hits a new milestone in puberty, or well-meaning adults raising questions about her dating life or all those kids she ‘babysits’ then it's definitely the fashion.
1993 and 1994 Saw Cool Crimp Skipper, Courtney and an African-American Skipper, who by the end of 1999 would be retroactively named Nikki, once Skipper had gotten taller. Each doll was in soft, baby pink and blue with specially made hair you could crimp, stamp and brush over and over, and each doll came with little, pink crimping tools, so Millennial kids could stamp zigzags and patterns into each doll's head. Sounds like harmless fun, right?
Well, maybe not if you're mom or dad.
While racists threw a fit seeing Skipper and friends in baggy pants, reminiscent of popular rap and hip-hop video stars of the era, frightened parents and community leaders were more focused on the pink, plastic jewelry Skipper wore.
Skipper, Courtney and Nikki were all wearing pacifiers as necklaces and earrings.
Now most kids only thought that Skipper was borrowing a look from the baby dolls she frequently is seen holding in the Teen Mom-esque line of Babysitter Skipper and Babysitters Inc dolls that endured from 1990 through the 2020s, but club-hopping adults knew where the trend originated from.
In 90s nightclubs, drug addicted dancers would often bring pacifiers in with them for a variety of uses. Some already high on MDMA/Molly/Ecstasy would use the baby tool to keep from grinding their teeth, while others would lick the item, dip it into a drug and then put it in their mouths. The trend created pacifier necklaces, keychain charms, rings and earrings that clubbers would take with them.
Colorful, often clear versions of these necklace sets would also make their way into shopping malls and gift shops, worn by adults and kids of all ages, usually by kids who didn't know about the drug reference. Even in the 2020s, a pacifier pendant is not an uncommon sight at trendy accessory stores.
But schools and other community establishments knew about the trend and were quick to ban the pendants and all other forms of the pacifier.
Even into the 2020s, pacifiers and candies such as Baby Bottle Pop remained banned long after the drug trend had faded out of memory.
As for Cool Crimp Skipper and her friends?
In many schools, the dolls often found themselves expelled from the playground or dumped in a teacher's drawer forever, their owners often being punished without ever being told why the pacifiers were bad.
This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.
© 2022 Koriander Bullard
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