{"id":4835,"date":"2009-03-16T01:48:36","date_gmt":"2009-03-16T01:48:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/?p=4835"},"modified":"2009-03-15T02:12:23","modified_gmt":"2009-03-15T02:12:23","slug":"tattoo-barbie-drives-an-online-brand-buzz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/tattoo-barbie-drives-an-online-brand-buzz\/","title":{"rendered":"Tattoo Barbie Drives an Online Brand Buzz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Totally Stylin’ Tattoos Barbie<\/a> is the newest introduction to the Barbie brand product line up – I kid you not.\u00a0 Mattel<\/a> claims the tattooed Barbie has been selling well, but the opposite seems to be true if you look at the online buzz.\u00a0 This month, online conversations have been all over the Internet with parents and consumers questioning the appropriateness of tattoos on a doll targeted to young girls.\u00a0 They do not believe Totally Stylin’ Tattoos Barbie is right for the Barbie brand.\u00a0 Mattel has responded by saying the company has no plans to change or discontinue the product.<\/p>\n

What do you think?\u00a0 Does Mattel have a responsibility to develop products with the Barbie brand name that are all appropriate for the primary audience for the brand?\u00a0 Is it ethical to sell a Barbie-branded doll with totally stylin’ tattoos on it?<\/p>\n

It’s an interesting argument.\u00a0 While I can certainly understand that Mattel is not promoting the tattooing of children with this toy, I can also understand parents who don’t want their impressionable children to get ideas that they want their own tattoos to look totally stylin’ like Barbie (I should mention that the tattoos that come with Totally Stylin’ Tattoos Barbie are temporary and can be applied on people, too, just like any temporary tattoo).<\/p>\n

It’s an interesting brand debate – where the line of ethics and responsibility should be drawn.\u00a0 I’d imagine this argument probably arises for the Barbie brand with each generation.\u00a0 Decades ago, it probably happened when Doctor Barbie launched or when Astronaut Barbie hit stores.\u00a0 Remember several years ago when Barbie and Ken got divorced?\u00a0 The buzz was very loud about that.\u00a0 There was even a Saturday Night Live<\/em> skit about it!<\/p>\n

It reminds me of a year or two ago when Disney launched Disney-branded wine.\u00a0 A brand name associated primarily with children on liquor seemed wrong.\u00a0 Suffice it to say, Disney pulled that product from the market very quickly after its launch.<\/p>\n

Regardless of how you feel about tattoos,\u00a0what do you think about this debate\u00a0from a branding perspective?\u00a0 Do brands have a responsibility to produce branded products that remain appropriate to the primary target audience?\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Totally Stylin’ Tattoos Barbie is the newest introduction to the Barbie brand product line up – I kid you not.\u00a0 Mattel claims the tattooed Barbie has been selling well, but the opposite seems to be true if you look at the online buzz.\u00a0 This month, online conversations have been all over the Internet with parents […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[1250,165,96,1254,175,1357],"class_list":{"0":"post-4835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-brand","7":"tag-barbie","8":"tag-brand-extensions","9":"tag-branding","10":"tag-mattel","11":"tag-new-product-development","12":"tag-tattoo-barbie","13":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nTattoo Barbie Drives an Online Brand Buzz<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ethical or Irresponsible? 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You decide.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/tattoo-barbie-drives-an-online-brand-buzz\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Corporate Eye\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/susangunelius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-03-16T01:48:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/blog\/images\/logo.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Susan Gunelius\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@susangunelius\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@lucynixon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Susan Gunelius\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/tattoo-barbie-drives-an-online-brand-buzz\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/tattoo-barbie-drives-an-online-brand-buzz\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Susan Gunelius\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#\/schema\/person\/a46ee0d1e91b41488959551cef624759\"},\"headline\":\"Tattoo Barbie Drives an Online Brand Buzz\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-03-16T01:48:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/tattoo-barbie-drives-an-online-brand-buzz\/\"},\"wordCount\":373,\"commentCount\":5,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"barbie\",\"brand extensions\",\"branding\",\"mattel\",\"new product development\",\"tattoo barbie\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Brand\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/tattoo-barbie-drives-an-online-brand-buzz\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/tattoo-barbie-drives-an-online-brand-buzz\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/tattoo-barbie-drives-an-online-brand-buzz\/\",\"name\":\"Tattoo Barbie Drives an Online Brand Buzz\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-03-16T01:48:36+00:00\",\"description\":\"Ethical or Irresponsible? 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