What do you think of the controversial launch of a "pregnant" Barbie doll by the US shopping website Amazon?

The image of Barbie has been controversial in the past. For example, many people believed that she was a representative of intolerance, and defined the image of a woman as having slightly parted lips, big breasts, and a snake waist. In addition, many people regard Barbie as another representative of capitalist power besides Coca-Cola and McDonald's (because many Barbies appear in luxurious and luxurious styles, wearing gold and silver). The relationship between the United States and Iraq has been tense this year, and regions in the Middle East that are relatively hostile to the United States have also seen a wave of anti-American Barbie destruction. Despite this, opposition forces from all sides still cannot stop this plastic beauty who is always on tiptoes ready to put on high heels. As time goes by, her image and influence continue to rise more and more positively. Christopher Varaste, author of the book "The Face of the American Dream" published in the United States this year, described Barbie as not just a toy, but also a representative of American women's spirit of independence, autonomy, and self-expression. In many universities in the United States, "Barbie Studies" can even become a special class, using the Barbie phenomenon to explore issues such as female psychology, roles, relationships between men and women, and the interaction between women and society. Perhaps the biggest affirmation is that at the beginning of this year, the US government placed Barbie in a time capsule buried to commemorate women's health care work, using her as a representative of women. "Barbie was designed from the beginning to be a doll that reflects lifestyles. Her ability to change with social trends is what makes her successful." Fang Tanlei, general manager of the girls' department of Mattel, the company that produces Barbie Na said. The crisis comes from "shortened childhood". The consumer group has dropped to three to five years old. Mattel Toys produces about 150 Barbie dolls every year, 120 of which are new styles. In addition to following the fashion trends, these styles also follow the trend of women. It evolves as the character evolves. In the 1970s, there were hippie Barbies wearing anti-war headscarves, as well as female astronaut Barbies, aerobic dance instructor Barbies, pilots, rappers, presidential candidates, and even female bodyguard Barbies. However, even though Barbie remains popular for a long time, she seems to be having a mid-life crisis recently. Last year, Barbie's global sales were $1.6 billion, down 3% from $1.8 billion in 1997. It may not seem serious to many people, but Mattel has found that Barbie's sales have declined slightly every year since its peak in 1997. This made them deeply wary. Barbie's midlife crisis may come from the so-called "childhood shortening" phenomenon, or "KGOY" (kidsgettingolderyounger), which means children's mental age matures in advance. In the past, 12-year-old girls might still play with dolls, but today the main consumer group of dolls is little sisters aged 3 to 5; "If my sister doesn't play with Barbie, it will be our biggest crisis." Mattel's approach Tamrena said. Establishing a computer animation department to attract modern digital children "Because of the baptism of computers, the Internet, television, video tapes and other information, many eight- and nine-year-old children now have the ideological maturity of teenagers aged 13 or 14, so they are not too concerned about too much. Childish toys are repulsive," said Clifton, general manager of Interbrand. This phenomenon is currently faced by the global toy industry. “The time it takes for toys to go from shelf to shelf is getting shorter and shorter because it’s getting harder and harder to wow children.” “When designing toys, it’s hard to grasp design concepts because the old ways of differentiating play ages often don’t work now; Overage children often feel that toys are not fun. This is the sentiment of some toy manufacturers. In order to help Barbie survive her midlife crisis, Mattel has also launched a response. For example, the company has established a computer animation department, and the first animated CD-ROM film "Barbie in the Nutcracker" and related products brought them about 1. $500 million in revenue. The second and third parts will be released soon. The next plan may be to cooperate with computer game manufacturers to develop more content-rich and interesting Barbie-themed computer games to capture modern digital children. Breaking through the toy brand positioning and entering the popular girl industry. Another important strategy is to re-plan the product line for "sisters". Mattel admits that this part of the task is quite challenging, because the entertainment consumption areas of this group of little adults are not limited to toys, but also include cosmetics, fashion clothing, pop music, electronic game consoles, etc. Mattel's recently launched trio of dolls "MyScene" (Barbie is one of them) emphasizes the handkerchief sex of three people who dress up together and chase fashionable things together, in order to reflect this change. "We not only want to capture one girl, but also a group of girls." Moreover, Mattel also plans to use "MyScene" as the brand name for its new products of girls' cosmetics, perfumes, fashions, and pop music CDs. In short, after Barbie reaches middle age, she will officially transition from the toy industry to the popular industry. As the sales of cosmetics for girls around the world are growing rapidly at a rate of 10% to 20% every year, now not only girls in the United States and Europe can put on makeup and dress up, but also more and more in Asia. It is estimated that if Barbie can continue to capture this group of over-age children and maintain her position as the market leader, it will bring her more than US$1 billion in business opportunities every year if she enters the popular industry in the future.

Barbie's brand status will also break through the toy category and reach a higher level.

At this point, the fate of middle-aged Barbie is much better than that of middle-aged Spider-Man or Superman. After all, who would want to use "Spider-Man perfume"?