Teen Talk 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.
Doll
Teen Talk Barbie was introduced at the 1992
Controversy
Educators, including the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, objected to the "Math class is tough" phrase as detrimental to the effort to encourage girls to study math and science,[8] and particularly in association with the phrases about shopping; the American Association of University Women criticized it in a report about girls receiving a relatively poor education in math and science.[2][7] Mattel initially offered to exchange dolls for nonspeaking ones on request,[9] and later apologized to the American Association of University Women, withdrew the math class phrase from those to be used in future dolls, and offered an exchange to purchasers who had a doll with that phrase.[2][10][11] The criticism gave rise to the 1994 "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy" episode of The Simpsons, in which Lisa Simpson objects to sexist utterances by a "Malibu Stacy" doll such as "Thinking too much gives you wrinkles."[1][6][12] As of 2005[update], the collector's price for one of the estimated 3,500 Teen Talk Barbies including the phrase "Math class is tough" was around $500.[3]
Voice box exchange with G.I. Joe
In 1993, to draw attention to what they regarded as outdated gender stereotypes exemplified by the dolls, a group of
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-313-33910-3, pp. 423–24.
- ^ a b c "Company News: Mattel Says It Erred; Teen Talk Barbie Turns Silent on Math", The New York Times, October 21, 1992.
- ^ ISBN 9780896891678, p. 81.
- ^ John Boone, "The 14 Most Controversial Barbies Ever", Entertainment Tonight, November 24, 2014.
- ^ a b David Firestone, "While Barbie Talks Tough, G. I. Joe Goes Shopping", The New York Times, December 31, 1993.
- ^ ISBN 9781429232654, p. 196.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-313-33909-7, pp. 41–42, p. 41.
- ISBN 9780786418374, pp. 34–35 and note 18, p. 183, citing Ken Schroeder, "In Brief ... Barbie Doesn't Add Up", The Education Digest 58 (December 1992) 72–75.
- ^ Associated Press, "Talking Barbie dolls called sexist", The News-Journal (Daytona Beach, Florida), October 3, 1992, p. 6A.
- ^ David Grimes, New York Times regional newspapers, "Being brainwashed by a talking toy", The Times-News (Hendersonville, North Carolina), October 17, 1992, p. 12A.
- ^ According to van Laren, "Math Class Is Tough", Mattel only promised that the phrase would no longer be juxtaposed with "Want to go shopping?" and "Okay, meet me at the mall".
- Lakeland Ledger, February 17, 1994, p. 4C.
- ^ McClary, p. 35.
