The views expressed in this piece are that of the individual writer and not necessarily that of Her Campus.
In a society where women are constantly objectified in the media, the decision to put a swimsuit-clad plastic doll on the cover of a magazine is more than questionable. Mattel, the brand responsible for Barbie, teamed up with Sports Illustrated to produce an "Unapologetic" campaign, which features Barbie on the cover of the magazine's 50th anniversary issue. "As a legend herself, and under constant criticism about her body and how she looks, posing in" the issue "gives Barbie and her fellow legends an opportunity to own who they are, celebrate what they have done and be #unapologetic," said Mattel in a statement.
Understandably, the campaign was met with criticism and debate online. Several articles were published complaining about the campaign, such as a Forbes article entitled "How Desperate is Mattel to Make SI Swimsuit Barbie a Sex Object For Men?" which discusses not only the negative body implications of putting the doll on the cover, but also what that says about men's objectification of women.
Besides the fact that it's unnerving (and creepy) to see a children's toy sexualized on a men's magazine, the choice to make Barbie a "cover model" feels like a giant step back for women. After all, Barbie has often been blamed for being a negative role model for young girls by giving them unrealistic body image expectations, and recent campaigns like Dove's "Real Beauty" have aimed to move away from idolizing the blonde, tanned size-zero supermodel and to instead celebrate the beauty and uniqueness of real women.
Although there may have been some intended irony in placing a doll on the cover, the brands are nonetheless sending the wrong message. As Stanford student Julia Landauer aptly told Forbes, "With a doll on the cover, the editors are essentially saying that a fictional image is consistent with what they normally do, implying that a “perfect” woman is, in fact, fictional."
It seems as though Mattel's decision was made solely to increase sales and gain publicity, without regard for their contribution to the pervasiveness of negative body image in our society. And for that, they should be apologetic.
