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Is Barbie's LinkedIn Profile Good For 'Girl Power?'

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In late June, Mattel, Inc. and its signature toy, Barbie, made headlines with the creation of a LinkedIn page for the world-famous doll, complete with a lengthy resume spanning more than 150 careers. It was another interesting marketing move by the toy company, which has recently been promoting its popular 11.9 inch tall doll in novel ways (most notably via February's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover), to combat declining sales.

While Barbie purports to be a “Dream Incubator” on her LinkedIn profile, where she "act(s) as a consultant, helping girls around the world play out their imagination, try on different careers, and explore the world around them,” there are mixed opinions on whether or not the company’s “girl power” message is authentic.

In 2006, a study performed by psychology professors Helga Dittmar and Suzanne Ive from the University of Sussex and Emma Halliwell from the University of the West of England found that when exposed to Barbie at a young age, girls were likely to produce “lower self-esteem and a greater desire for a thinner body shape” than those exposed to a different doll or not exposed to a doll at all, and that “early exposure to dolls epitomizing an unrealistically thin body ideal may damage girls’ body image, which would contribute to an increased risk of disordered eating and weight cycling” later in life.

Despite the 150-job resume Barbie touts on her LinkedIn page, a study released in March of this year by Oregon State University found that girls who play with Barbie dolls see fewer career options for themselves than for boys – even if they played with the “career-focused, doctor version of the doll.”

“It creates a limit on the sense of what’s possible for their future,” said Aurora M. Sherman an associate professor in the School of Psychological Science at OSU, in a press release from March. “While it’s not a massive effect, it is a measurable and statistically significant effect.”

Further, there has been much talk about the unrealistic beauty standards set by the doll and reimaginings of what it would like if it depicted the body size of the average teenage girl. Despite a redesign in the 1990s to make Barbie’s figure more realistic, critics are still unsatisfied.

So why the creation of the LinkedIn page? Is Mattel simply looking to drum up publicity for a struggling toy brand? Worldwide gross sales for the brand slumped 14% in the last year. Or is it hoping to mimic the success of other Girl Power marketing campaigns, in the vein of Always or Pantene, and cast itself as a proponent of female empowerment?

More importantly, will consumers buy into Dream Incubator Barbie, mentor for young girls, when so much of the doll’s reputation seems incompatible with this mission – especially when its attempt to “encourage generations of girls to place no limitations on their ambitions” will apparently occur on a platform where 2/3 of the users are over the age of 35?

In a statement, Mattel said the response to Barbie's LinkedIn has been "extremely positive," and that "Barbie has been the original billboard for 'girl power' since 1959."

"Always a trail blazer, Barbie takes on roles and careers relevant to women today. With 1-in-5 global start-ups being led by a female entrepreneur, it only makes sense that she would join the club to help  inspire the next generation of girls to dream big," the statement said. "Barbie has the full support of her Chief Inspiration Officers including female founders of innovative companies such as One Kings Lane, Rent the Runway, Girls Who Code and Sugarfina."

As Sherman pointed out in an email interview, young girls – the ostensible benefactors of the campaign – are not on LinkedIn. While the new Entrepreneur Barbie marketed via the social site may be depicted as a role model for young girls, Sherman sees it as a ploy for adults (the people who actually use LinkedIn) to buy a new toy for their daughters, not necessarily to influence girls in any direct way.

“So, whether the ad campaign is a good move or not depends on whether adults believe the hype,” Sherman said. “My findings indicate the hype is just that — another cynical attempt to profit.”

Echoing Mattel,  Debbie Sterling, Founder and CEO of GoldieBlox -- a toy company that encourages girls to pursue STEM fields (particularly engineering) and made waves with its viral 2013 “Princess Machine” ad – noted while Barbie may have represented fashion and frivolity in the past, it’s “a logical strategy” to bring “Barbie into the future” by having the doll promote leadership and career advancement today.

“It’s about time girls are given more options. Our viral success and rapid growth, for me, is a sign that people have been yearning for this conversation for quite some time now,” Sterling said. “To see larger companies begin to pivot and rethink how they speak to our girls is both validating and refreshing.”

This story was updated from its original version with response from Mattel.

Follow me on Twitter: @AliciaAdamczyk

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