Is Barbie a Good Role Model?

Azrah Bashir 8iii
Word Count: 746

This house believes that Barbie is a good role model.
I am writing to oppose the motion that Barbie is a good role model. Today I will be aiming to convince you that Barbie is not a good role model. There are many reasons as to why Barbie is not a good role model, however one of the most common criticisms of Barbie is the fake body image that she promotes to most of the young generation. Barbie puts forward such an unrealistic body image for young girls to look up to. This leads to a risk that girls who attempt to mirror her will suffer from mostly anorexia but in some cases bulimia. These will lead to very extreme eating disorders and can lead to other problems.
Until the year 1997, every single Barbie doll produced was white; this was clearly promoting a racist society among the youth. Until a very recent year of 2009 the black Barbie dolls that were made, still contained all of their original Caucasian features. Oreo cookies were always sold alongside African American Barbie dolls, Oreo, being the derogatory term meaning that a person is “ Black on the outside, but white on the inside” This then brought across the image that the company Mattel, that produces the Barbie dolls, were not comfortable with selling the dolls and quite clearly didn’t want to sell them.
In the year 2009, a new Barbie doll was released, Barbie, with stick on tattoos. However the chief executer on Mattel, the company that produces the dolls, began to realise that this would influence girls in a bad way. So that was another bad idea, which was soon withdrawn from the market. Some Barbie dolls were also made to look as if they had tans, again this had the impact of young girls wanting badly to get a fake tan, and not understanding why they were not allowed to have one if Barbie could. Barbie’s perfect body made and still makes girls think that is the right way to look. Barbie is has white skin, blonde hair and she is blue eyed. This look that...