Barbie has a forgotten history of changing in response to market pressures. Are her multiple new bodies ushering in an era of ethical body inclusiveness, or is Mattel just shifting deckchairs on the Titanic?
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Articles on Toys
Displaying 41 - 55 of 55 articles
Despite her age Barbie hasn’t matured – a successful formula that has worked for Mattel.
The history of disability toys – that is, both toys designed for use by disabled children, and toys that depict disability – reflects the changing treatment of the disabled.
The new conversational Barbie doll may be good at keeping children entertained, but do we really know who’s listening in?
Did your child just drop the F-bomb? What can you do?
An EU court has ruled that Lego’s iconic mini-figures are a protected trademark and so cannot be copied. Here’s why.
Makies, the #toyslikeme campaign and the broader focus on disability in digital spaces show we are in the midst of a significant shift towards an inclusive world view of disability.
The equalities minister, Jo Swinson, has suggested that boys should be encouraged to play with dolls to make them more “nurturing and caring”. This is apparently in the hope that they will become more…
Launched in 1959, named after the inventor’s daughter Barbara, and owned by 99% of 3-10 year old girls in the USA, Barbie has been a popular request on young girls’ Christmas wish lists for 55 years. So…
Australia suffers “endemic” levels of men’s violence against women, so if the child is the father of the man, then it’s time we talked about boys’ toys. And what better time to start the conversation than…
On Tuesday Greens Spokesperson for women, Larissa Waters, lent her support to No Gender December – a campaign spearheaded by the group Play Unlimited that aims to highlight the gendered marketing of toys…
“I didn’t encourage my daughter to play with Barbie dolls and dress up in flouncy fairy costumes, but she just gravitated toward them.” When confronted with the idea that gendered marketing and stereotypes…
“Danish design” usually conjures up images of mid-century modern furniture – functional yet sculptural – but Denmark’s most successful “design icon” is a humble plastic brick: Lego. In 2013, the Lego Group…
Virtually any kid who picks up a bucket of LEGO bricks will start by making a house, usually in mismatched, rainbow colours, maybe featuring a few of the little plastic minifig people. It seems almost…
You only have to walk down the aisle of a toy shop to see that young girls really love pink. This has some parents worried. They are concerned that pink is bad for their daughters. One engineer in the…
Top contributors
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Pro Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Marketing, University of Tasmania
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Louise Grimmer is a Friend of The Conversation.
Senior Lecturer in Retail Marketing, University of Tasmania
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Associate Professor in Education, Concordia University
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Professor, Curtin University
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Senior Lecturer School of Architecture & Urban Design, RMIT University
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Reader in Intellectual Property Law, City, University of London
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Professor, School for the Future of Innovation in Society & School of Computing, Informatics and Decision Systems Engineering, Arizona State University
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Professor of Marketing, University of Birmingham
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Professor of Psychology, University of Cambridge
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Associate professor, The University of Melbourne
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Associate Professor of Sociology, Deakin University
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Professor Emeritus of Cognitive NeuroImaging, Aston University
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Associate professor, Architecture and Design, Swinburne University of Technology
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Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice, University of Delaware
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Lecturer, School of Psychology, Deakin University
