Barbie Liberation Organization

Last updated
Barbie Liberation Organization
Formation1993 (1993)
TypeCoalition
Purpose Activism
Methods Culture jamming
Fields Gender stereotypes
Criticism of capitalism
Plastic pollution
Website barbieliberation.org

The Barbie Liberation Organization, or BLO, are a group of artists and activists involved in culture jamming. Self described as "an underground network of creative activists," the group gained notoriety in 1993 after switching voice boxes in talking G.I. Joes and Barbie dolls. They resurfaced in August 2023, claiming to be the toy giant Mattel in order to announce a new collection of MyCeliaBarbie EcoWarrior Edition [1] [2] compostable dolls, and a corporate wide move to plastic free toy production. [3]

Contents

In their first campaign the BLO performed "surgery" on a reported 300–500 dolls from retail and returned them to shelves, an action they refer to as shopgiving. Thus, Teen Talk Barbie dolls would say phrases such as "Vengeance is mine", while G.I. Joe dolls would say phrases such as "The beach is the place for summer!" [4] Two leading members of the BLO, Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos, would go on to found the culture jamming and political action group The Yes Men.

In the 2023 action, actress Daryl Hannah, posing as a spokesperson for Mattel introduced the collection of biodegradable dolls and announced in a short video [5] that the company would stop using plastic by 2030. [6] This was one of several videos [7] produced by Yellow Dot Studios [8] as part of the BLO's campaign to leverage the publicity surrounding the launch of the Barbie film to raise concerns about the pervasive use of plastics. [9] Tying in with the satirical campaign is a hoax website bearing heavy resemblance to the real Mattel corporate site, where they issued a fake press release for the fictitious biodegradable Barbie line. [10]

Motivation and context

The BLO was originally conceived in an effort to question and ultimately change the gender stereotypes American culture is known for after Mattel released a speaking Barbie that said "Math class is tough." [11] It took place in the middle of the culture wars of the 1990s when creative dissent was once again gaining popularity and artists and activists were often trying to conceive of new ways to rebel against cultural stereotypes and powerful forms like network TV. By 1993, criticism of Barbie as a negative gender stereotype for women [12] was commonplace both in academia and popular culture. This may have been partially responsible for the generally positive response of the public to the project—the criticism they were making was familiar and not a controversial point to make during the 1990s. Although their criticism was not new, the creative form of hacking used by the BLO was noteworthy. [13] [14]

Methods

There is a detailed description of the complex "surgery" they performed available on their website, encouraging others to take part in the surgeries themselves. [15] [16] The surgery required some technical skills, tools and precision, but the voice boxes in the dolls were similar enough that the surgery could be reproduced fairly easily in other parts of the country. They outlined the surgery in easy to understand images. After the surgery they would secretly return the toys to shelves, what they call reverse shoplifting.

They also produced a video to explain their point. [17] [18] They used the familiar form of the nightly news message, collaged with cutting edge video art techniques to get their point across. Viewers would be unable to tell exactly what was news and what was made up, they made some points through exaggerations and some through the use of actual news footage. [19] They recruited two children, one from San Diego, California, and one from Albany, New York, to showcase the modified toys to the news. Additionally, the BLO used their extra stock of modified dolls to go to stores that were near news stations that were covering the story, planted a modified doll on the shelf, and waited for the journalists to purchase the BLO's toy; this would show the reach and a seemingly large scale operation. [20] Having children already prepped to be interviewed and planning ahead to gain media coverage helped the BLO's image and reach.

The media responded with coverage, but no legal issues were ever seriously raised. Hasbro and Mattel, the makers of the dolls brushed off the action with little fuss, although one person was outraged with the "terrorist attacks" directed at children. [21]

Debate

Because of the nature of culture jamming, it is hard to tell how many Barbies and G.I. Joes were actually switched, and how much of the media attention was orchestrated by the group. The artist Igor Vamos, known for acts of media intervention, intentionally fed information to the media to report more cases of the switched identity surgeries. Although most sources suggest from 300–500 toys were hacked, other reports up to 3,000 across the country and in other countries like Canada, France and England. Others assert that only 12 toys were actually switched and the rest was cleverly arranged media hype by Vamos and his associates. This perspective indicates that the project was also a critique of the nature of the television and media culture of the 1990s, which led to other media interventions by Vamos, collaborators, and other groups in the coming years. [14] [22]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mattel</span> American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company

Mattel, Inc. is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth and Elliot Handler in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. Mattel has a presence in 35 countries and territories; its products are sold in more than 150 countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbie</span> Fashion doll brand by Mattel

Barbie is a fashion doll created by American businesswoman Ruth Handler, manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel and introduced on March 9, 1959. The toy was based on the German Bild Lilli doll which Handler had purchased while in Europe. The figurehead of an eponymous brand that includes a range of fashion dolls and accessories, Barbie has been an important part of the toy fashion doll market for over six decades. Mattel has sold over a billion Barbie dolls, making it the company's largest and most profitable line. The brand has expanded into a multimedia franchise since 1984, including video games, animated films, television/web series, and a live-action film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Handler</span> American business magnate and inventor (1916–2002)

Ruth Marianna Handler was an American business magnate and inventor. She is best known for inventing the Barbie doll in 1959, and being co-founder of toy manufacturer Mattel with her husband Elliot, as well as serving as the company's first president from 1945 to 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bratz</span> American fashion doll and media franchise

Bratz is an American fashion doll and media franchise created by former Mattel employee Carter Bryant for MGA Entertainment, which debuted in 2001.

RTMark is an anti-consumerist activist collective, whose stated aim is to subvert the "Corporate Shield" that "protects" American corporations. The name is derived from "Registered Trademark".

Since Barbie's introduction as a teenage fashion model in 1959, the doll has been portrayed with many careers. Dolls are sold with sets of clothes and accessories that fit the career being portrayed. For example, the Lifeguard Barbie playset includes a Barbie, an outfit with shoes, a lifeguard chair, a dolphin, and a life preserver, while the Spanish Teacher Barbie includes a Barbie, an outfit with shoes, flashcards, a Spanish quiz, an easel, a notebook, a key chain, and a hairbrush.

Polly Pocket is a toy line of dolls and accessories first founded and designed by Chris Wiggs in 1983 and licensed by Bluebird Toys from 1989 until both entities/properties were acquired by Mattel in 1998.

Totally Hair Barbie is a fashion doll, in the Barbie line by Mattel, that was released in 1992. The doll's extra-long hair reached all the way to her toes and at the time, she had the longest hair ever for a Barbie doll at 11.5 inches in length. She is notable for being the highest selling Barbie doll in history, having racked up $100 million worldwide in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flavas</span> American line of fashion dolls

Flavas is an American line of fashion dolls created by Mattel in 2003. They are multi-ethnic and have an urban, hip hop style with "bling-bling" jewellery and stick-on tattoos, described as "ghetto-fabulous" by Newsweek. They were designed to appeal to tweens and compete with the widely successful Bratz dolls. They were marketed as "reality-based" and "authentic" and have more points of articulation than traditional fashion dolls for more expressive posing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Igor Vamos</span> American comedian and activist

Igor Vamos is a member of The Yes Men, and an associate professor of media arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In 2000, he received the Creative Capital award in the discipline of Emerging Fields. He is also a co-founder of RTmark and the recipient of a 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship, granted for a project that used Global Positioning System (GPS) and other wireless technology to create a new medium with which to "view" his documentary Grounded, about an abandoned military base in Wendover, Utah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bild Lilli doll</span> Discontinued West German fashion doll line

The Bild Lilli doll was a West German line of fashion doll launched by Greiner & Hausser GmbH on August 12, 1955 and produced until 1964. Its design was based on the comic-strip character Lilli, created by Reinhard Beuthien for the tabloid newspaper Bild. The doll was made of polystyrene, came in two sizes, and had an available wardrobe of 1950s fashion. The Lilli doll was copied, and altered to some degree, for Mattel upon the direction of that company's co-founder, Ruth Handler. Mattel acquired the rights to Bild Lilli in 1964, and production of the German doll ceased in favor of Mattel's new vinyl doll, which they called Barbie.

Teen Talk Barbie is an edition of Mattel's Barbie doll, introduced in 1992, that incorporates a voice box programmed to speak one of four randomly selected phrases when a button is pushed. It became controversial because one of the spoken phrases was "Math class is tough", and was also later used for a protest wherein some dolls had the voice boxes exchanged with those for Talking Duke G.I. Joe action figures produced by Hasbro.

Website spoofing is the act of creating a website with the intention of misleading readers that the website has been created by a different person or organization.

Barbie and the Rockers is a doll line created in the mid-1980s by Mattel to compete with Hasbro's popular Jem doll line. They were on the market for roughly 3 years; a direct-to-video special, titled Barbie and the Rockers: Out of This World, was released in 1987. The characters include Diva, Dana, Dee-Dee, and Derek; Ken joined the band in later waves.

Earring Magic Ken, also known as "Gay Ken" and "Fey Ken", is a model of the Ken doll introduced by Mattel in 1993 as a companion to its Earring Magic Barbie figure, one of five dolls in the Earring Magic Barbie line.

<i>Barbie</i> (media franchise) Multimedia franchise featuring Barbie

Beginning with the release of an eponymous video game in 1984, Barbie, a fashion doll manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel and debuted on March 9, 1959, has been featured in a media franchise predominantly consisting of a film series and media formats across technologies like television and the Internet. Since then, it has become one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time and has been referred to among fans as the "Barbie Cinematic Universe".

A media prank is a type of media event, perpetrated by staged speeches, activities, or press releases, designed to trick legitimate journalists into publishing erroneous or misleading articles. The term may also refer to such stories if planted by fake journalists, as well as the false story thereby published. A media prank is a form of culture jamming generally done as performance art or a practical joke for purposes of a humorous critique of mass media.

Monster High is an American multimedia-supported fashion doll franchise created by toy designer Garrett Sander and launched by Mattel in 2010. Aimed at children ages 7–14, the franchise features characters inspired by monster movies, sci-fi horror, thriller fiction, folklore, myths and popular culture, centering around the adventures of the teenage children of monsters and other mythical creatures attending a high school of the same name.

LaVonne Salleé is an American artist who is best known for her work with altered Barbie dolls. Like many conceptual artists, she uses materials not usually perceived as artistic in nature. She uses found object methods and a variety of craft skills to accrue her pieces of recycled art.

References

  1. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20230807203615/https://mattel-corporate.com/news/new-mattel-decomposable-barbie-line-celebrates-the-end-of-plastic-and-mourns-the-dead
  2. ↑ Archived 2023-08-02 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ "Barbie Liberation Organization". Barbie Liberation Organization. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  4. ↑ "Barbie Liberation". Sniggle.net. 1938-10-30. Archived from the original on 7 November 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
  5. ↑ "Plastic Free with Daryl Hannah". August 1, 2023 – via YouTube.
  6. ↑ Albeck-Ripka, Livia (Aug 1, 2023). "Barbie Hoax Targets Mattel and Fools Some News Outlets". The New York Times.
  7. ↑ "EcoWarrior Barbie Hoax". YouTube.
  8. ↑ "Yellow Dot Studios |". Yellow Dot Studios. September 16, 2024.
  9. ↑ "A new "EcoWarrior" Barbie, supposedly from Mattel, drew headlines. It was a hoax. - CBS News". 2023-08-02. Retrieved 2024-11-26.
  10. ↑ "Mattel Denies Claim That All Barbies Will Be Compostable". Futurism. 2023-08-03. Retrieved 2024-11-26.
  11. ↑ https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/547659/barbie-liberation-organization-gi-joe-hacked 'Eat Lead!': When Activists Hacked Talking Barbie|Mental Floss
  12. ↑ https://globaltoynews.com/2020/10/01/the-history-of-black-barbies-from-playthings-to-liberation/ The History of Black Barbies: From to Liberation - Global Toy News
  13. ↑ McLellan, Marjorie L. (1995). "When Barbie Dated GI Joe: America's Romance with Cold War Toys". The Public Historian. 17 (1): 152–154. doi:10.2307/3378375. JSTOR   3378375.
  14. 1 2 "Jacket 27 - April 2005 - Alan Gilbert: Anne Waldman Changing the Frequency". Jacketmagazine.com. 1997-04-08. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
  15. ↑ "Barbie Liberation Organization | History". Barbie Liberation Organization. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
  16. ↑ "barbiedir.pdf" (PDF).
  17. ↑ "BLO video on YouTube". YouTube . 15 September 2010.
  18. ↑ https://www.vdb.org/titles/blo-nightly-news-0 Video Data Bank
  19. ↑ "Igor Vamos (biography)". Fondation-langlois.org. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
  20. ↑ "Barbie Liberation Organization". Beautiful Trouble. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  21. ↑ Firestone, David (1993-12-31). "While Barbie Talks Tough, G. I. Joe Goes Shopping - New York Times". The New York Times . Retrieved 2010-10-30.
  22. ↑ Batchen, Geoffrey (2002). Each wild idea: writing, photography ... - Google Books. MIT Press. ISBN   9780262523240 . Retrieved 2010-10-30.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.