I'm looking forward to Living in a Refrigerator Box Under the Highway Overpass Because of the Draconian Bankruptcy Laws Barbie.

"And you never run out of money!" - Because your rich husband will pay off the debt for you! wow. Welcome to gender roles 101.

I don't get why any parent would buy this for their child. Not just because it features Barbie and her impossibly ideal body, or because the whole thing is absolutely dripping with feminine stereotypes - but because parents should be concerned about teaching their children the value of the dollar.

Yeah, kids are kids and all that - but to me, $200 was an unfathomable amount of money at that age. Conditioning a child to associate credit card use with receiving nice things consequence-free is just plain irresponsible.

Sad and gross, but hardly anything new. Barbies have been teaching little girls how to spend spend spend for a long time, now. Not only by getting them to pester their parents for more dolls and accessories, but because Barbie has also been "shopping" for a long time. Isn't there a Barbie mall or something? I feel like there was one when I was a kid, but I never got one.

At least the comments section isn't a total disgrace this time. Everyone seemed pretty disgusted by the whole thing...

I don't think Barbie is necessarily the worst thing for kids to play with, though. She's never been portrayed as having a "husband" - she never married her boyfriend Ken and in fact broke up with him, I believe, so I don't think s.pisaster's "gender roles 101" comment was entirely fair. This toy in and of itself is stupid, but there are plenty of other Barbie playsets - workout Barbie, astronaut Barbie, doctor Barbie - that are great for little girls to play with.

Maybe you're thinking of Mall Madness, Cara? My friend had that game growing up and we played it once or twice - basically a mall shopping competition game. It got really boring really fast.

Maybe! I do remember that game. But I could have sworn that there was a Barbie version. Hmm. Maybe I'm making things up again :)

Oh, how dumb. That's just a dumb toy.

Does anyone remember Bargain Hunter? It was a board game that I had in the 80s that was all about shopping. It had a pretend plastic version of one of those old carbon credit card gizmos. I remember playing that game and totally not understanding how the "credit" part of the game was supposed to work.

That's the problem wandergrrl -- too many adults that have credit cards don't understand how they work. And telling a kid that it's free money doesn't help. I have quite honestly and sadly known people who have gotten themselves into credit card debt deeper than they could handle because they had no clue about interest rates and minimum payments.

Joy said, parents should be concerned about teaching their children the value of the dollar

Yes, but apparently a lot of parents do not teach their children about money. I saw a report on tv about kids going to college and having to learn to handle money. I thought, wow, shouldn't they learn that a little before college>?

raginfem - for the record, I was only referring to this specific toy. Barbie herself has shown periodic flashes of feminism (remember Astronaut Barbie? awesome). It's just that this toy seems to play into other cultural pressures on girls to fit into a certain mold.

She's never been portrayed as having a "husband" - she never married her boyfriend Ken and in fact broke up with him, I believe, so I don't think s.pisaster's "gender roles 101" comment was entirely fair.

She's never been portrayed as having a husband, but she's been a bride more times than I can count.

Just a few days ago, I saw a Forever Beautiful Bride Barbie (along with a Forever Handsome Groom Ken and a wedding cake playset) with the text "Every girl's dream..." or something to that effect on the box.

I actually rather like Barbie, but that made my stomach turn a little.

She's never been portrayed as having a husband, but she's been a bride more times than I can count.

So clearly Barbie is a lesbian, right?..Right?

Wait no, that would have to just be Civil Union Barbie.

I think feedback to the company could be invaluable here. Remember the brouhaha over the talking Barbie that said "I hate math!" as one of her preprogrammed phrases?

I can't seem to find a customer service e-mail address (it might be down during all the Chinese recalls), but here is the phone number:

Mattel products, including Hot Wheels, Barbie and Polly Pocket:
In the US and Canada: 800-524-8697

OMG that's horrible! Someone gave my daughter a barbie shopping kit complete with credit card swiper and a lot of shopping "sections" which included fashion, beauty, etc (no books. No cars. No tools.)

I HATE barbie and so does my wife.

I'm at least as upset by the way this toy frivolizes the concept of credit as by the gender stereotyping. Neither I nor my siblings were taught about the methods and importance of maintaining a good credit history before we left the house. I was lucky, because I didn't get a credit card until I was 30, and didn't make any major purchases before then, either. My sister, however, ran herself into significant credit card debt in her early 20s & ended up with a collection agency on her ass -- that blemish on her credit history is really problematic for her now that she's trying to do more "grown-up" things, like buy a car, get student loans for grad school, etc.

I think norbizness's proposed toy would actually be much safer for little girls to play with...

As far as Barbie being always a bride but never a wife/domestic partner... that's because, as this product perfectly illustrates, Barbie is entirely about commerce and females as consumers of merchandise. Modern weddings are orgies of consumption. Morality aside, I'm sure Mattel would be happy if girls held a new wedding for Barbie every week.

Complete with new gowns and accessories, of course.

Now why would you have no limit? Why couldn't it have been "put in how many hours Barbie 'worked' and see the balance go back up!" or something? Still a horrible toy.

from liz:
I thought, wow, shouldn't they learn that a little before college?

Oh, truer words could not be passed. My brother has 3 ridiculously intelligent siblings- 2 of which have declared bankruptcy before 30!!! We haven't really learned the ins and outs of credit yet- are learning more with the house and all that but my point- WHY ISN'T THIS HIGH SCHOOL LEARNING? I'll bemoan the fact that Civics is a lost course later, but come ON. Howzabout, Home ECONOMICS becomes a little less about sewing a pillow and cooking a pie and a little more about the econommics of personal finance? (Not getting down on classes for cooking and sewing- but can't they be electives and not requirements?) Learn what a checkbook is! What a household budget is! What those little tax thingies on your payroll check mean! That 401K isn't a cleaner! That when you use a credit card, you are TAKING OUT A LOAN for every purchase, sans the numerous forms. Seriously, this is an education problem.

It's also a problem with the Baby Boomer generation in that I've not met a friend in the 20s-30s whose parents ever spoke about money- how they got it, how they saved and how they spent it. Never. That silence is costing my generation a lot of money in interest. It'll be a course for my daughter- I've even though about going so far as to "tax" her allowance to save it for something bigger for her... sounds ogre-like, but come on people, we know nothing about money these days.

Despite the fact she may have astronaut or doctor outfits or playsets, the unrealistic body proportions, painted on makeup, (always) pointed feet made for high heels,(always) blonde hair and blue eyes, etc. make Barbie a bad influence on little girls. I wish I wouldn't have played with them as a child, they totally warped my idea of what women were "supposed" to look like for a long time.

All it would take to make this a valuable educational toy would be to limit reloading some way. Even if all it took to recharge was swping the card through the "Going To Work" slot, or if it waited 24 hours to reload.

Ochy Chornya, the controversial Barbie said "Math class is tough!" Not so bad as all that, though still reinforcing a stereotype.

All I know is, my parents drilled into my brain from the moment I was old enough to understand english that money only comes through hard work, and you should save as much as you can. So today I am paranoid to use my money, but at least I have it when I really need it. It's sad that a lot of people my age (20) already have credit cards and are destroying their futures with it. It's not that hard to get one, just go shopping at the mall and you get 15 thrown at you in every store. Sometimes I wish I could just stamp "NO, I don't want your effin credit card" on my head.

And it's so sad, there really are people out there that seriously believe credit cards are free money.

Hi lilianna28, I'm Q. I'm 34 and my parents taught me PLENTY about money. My husband is 35 and his did the same.

I'm less concerned about this TOY - that can easily be distinguished as a TOY, much the way people distinguish driving a car in a video game and driving an *actual* car - than I am worried about what children see their parents DOING with money.

The credit card debt and forclosure rates in this country suggest that, if kids are going to be learning by example, things are only going to get worse. If mom and dad are constantly using VISA to keep up with the Joneses - why would we be surprised when their kids grow up and rack up huge consumer debt by the time they're 21?

Basic money concepts NEED to be taught in school. The parents aren't going to do it because so many of them are piss-poor financial planners in their own rights.

It shouldn't be a mystery that money doesn't grow on trees or come in shiny little plastic cards. This is not high level education - it's extremely basic addition and subtraction and knowing that money has to be earned. Why is this so hard for so many people to understand?

This toy is awful in and of itself, but I agree that it could be very much improved if Barbie had to go to "work" in order to get more balance free on her credit card. That way, the toy could be a wee bit more educational with regards to having and spending money, as opposed to just irresponsible-consumer training.

. . . and this is another reason why we won't have television in our house.

Seriously, how do the people who came up with this sleep at night?

I flipped shit when i saw the commercial for this toy. What the hell is wrong with toy companies!

Hi Q. So, you agree with me then, except for the parents thing? Great. Still don't know anyone *personally* whose parents divulged any financial information.

My parents are excellent with finances. They own their home, buy cars with cash and don't buy a thing they don't save for. And I? had no idea any of it until I bought my first car and my parents filled out the co-signment papers. I'm just now pulling out of the hole I dug myself into and while I'm proud of the work I'm doing, I wish Mom and Dad had a conversation with me about buying stuff or finances- ever.

Well, where would capitalism be if children weren't rose up to indulge in SHOPPING?

Q: maybe it's a midwest thing?

I'd get that for my daughter.

I'd also buy her the rough and tumble Repo Man action toy and Mattel's new Bankruptcy Boardgame

They could expand this and make it more reality based. Include a meager salary and standard ongoing costs like rent, utilities and loan payments. Make part of the game trying to pay all of these things as they fluctuate and other needs like car repairs come up. Then for some more interest throw in a predatory loan and some massive errors on a utility bill that customer service doesn't want to address.

They need to revamp that board game life.

"We haven't really learned the ins and outs of credit yet- are learning more with the house and all that but my point- WHY ISN'T THIS HIGH SCHOOL LEARNING?"

It's not direct preparation for premed or prelaw courses and there's no AP or IB exam for it, so I bet the "don't care about anything but your grades!!!" crowd doesn't think it's important for their high school kids.

I suspect this is also why my high school offered far more calculus than statistics in the math department.

better quality video of the commercial:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tvZRcJHRtOE

I was obsessed with my Barbies when I was a kid, and I actually played with them for several years after my classmates grew out of them. I figure I was spared all of the terrible things that happen to girls who play with Barbies because I only ever got the dolls. I never had a car, I never had a wedding setup, I never had the house. And I always thought Barbies looked weird. It was obvious that they didn't look like any womyn I knew, so I was never very concerned with looking like one.

This toy is just a symptom of a much larger cultural problem, which is that no one knows how to handle money. When I was in college just a few years ago, it was so sad to see how many of my classmates didn't even know how much money was in their checking accounts, or how much of a credit card balance they were carrying. Thank G-d my mother gave me an allowance, made me pay for everything with my allowance, and wouldn't give me extra money for a movie or new clothes if I was out. There were times when I whined, especially as a teenager when other kids were getting whatever they wanted, but now I know how to make a budget, save money, etc.

The toy isn't the problem; the problem is that an endless credit card seems like a viable financial option.

mina: in my high school the first track econ class learned about the stock market and supply side economics. the the second track learned about how to buy a house, comparing auto insurance. all those practical, real world economic issues.

and i have one worse. dora the explorer has her own credit card toy - now your daughter can get into debt before kindergarten

SDstuck,

Actually there is a re-vamped version of "Life", called "The Game of Real Life":

http://www.gameofreallife.com/

I don't own a copy, but I've played it and it's really fun.

My god. That's so wrong on so many levels.

Be good little consumers, buy, buy, buy. But only pink, fashion girly things, of course.

not that this will happen, but it would be cool if they could make recharging the card contingent upon volunteering or foodbank donations. let community groups have the code to reload the card and have them issue it for so many hours or cans provided. teach the kidlets that not everybody has the time or income to play barbie.

My first reaction to this product was, "ug, another shopping toy to install gender roles in girls." Then I thought, "well, maybe it has merit to teach economic responsibility in them." But no, the final thought on the product, "great, teaching girls to both focus on outward appearances and not worry about the money."

I don't know, bailey, that sounds like it misses the point of play. I don't like overtly didactic toys and books.

You know, we talk about credit card debt like it's a personal fault or flaw--those kids just don't know the value of a buck, or nobody's teaching them how to manage their money. Maybe that's not the issue. Maybe the issue is exactly that what most/many people make, money-wise, is just not enough to support them in a way that allows for both the necessities and the necessary pleasures of life. I ran up credit card debt as a graduate student--for 8 years I made around 15K a year. Now, obviously, there are people who survive on less while raising children, etc. But I look at the credit card debt I ran up, and it was basically on things like shoes, movie tickets, a new hat, train tickets to visit home, student discount tickets to the ballet. Not wildly uncontrollable spending sprees, just luxuries that made my life pleasant, rather than a penance spent sitting at home staring at the four walls of my room every night, which gets old after 8 years. Maybe the problem is not lack of self-control when it comes to credit-card debt. Maybe the problem is that people don't make enough money. I'd like to see some stats on credit-card debt broken down by socio-economic class and income level.

EG i don't disagree with you - overly didactic is not fun.

However teaching our kidlets that shopping is 'fun' is kind of problematic, too. I guess i'd rather see spending linked to consequences and not made into play.

i understand what you're saying about spending - and i agree. i ran up the same kind of debts when i was first out of arch grad school earning $9/hr as a contract employee. i didn't buy anything extravagent - but i did repair my car and get some professional clothes - at thrift stores and places like ross, tjmaxx etc.

However when things got really stressful, this bottom feeding started to become my main source of fun. (Difficult break up, stalking boyfriend, unsupportive friends, working two jobs, no social life) and even now, i have a hard time figuring out what to do with my free time that doesn't include shopping for 'fun'.

I don't particularly like how shopping has imprinted on ME as 'fun' - and i didn't have a barbie credit card. I'd just as soon see it ruined as play for kidlets than see them think shopping is 'play'.

Mind you, this is not a criticism of people who enjoy shopping - but it is a criticism of people like myself who can't seem to delink fun from shopping.

bailey said: "i have a hard time figuring out what to do with my free time that doesn't include shopping for 'fun'."

I agree!! It is really hard to come up with day to day stuff to do that doesn't involve money. Having a kid actually helps with that- walks and trips to the park to play on the swings and the like are no-cost healthy kind of diversions. But my partner and I wound up spending the most $$ because we didn't have a heck of a lot to do that didn't cost so much- eating out, movies, hell, shopping became MORE practical "waste" of our money because at least you'd get something at the end of the day to show for the spending spree. Even though we live only about 1 hour from Chicago, where there is a lot more adult stuff to do out for free, there is still the matter of getting out there (gas or train) eating once you're there or lugging stuff along, etc. You can't even lock yourself in your apartment and just watch TV all day without spending a big buck on the cable bill or what not. It's difficult to tell yourself, "don't spend" when it's your entertainment / release from the house.

Yes, I agree. It's possible in the summer to find more fun things to do for free if you live in a big city--street fairs, free movies in parks, etc., but it's almost impossible in the winter. You know, I think part of it is that we have to accept that getting new things is fun. And that's why it's hard to resist or not do. It's not that you or I have bad habits--going out to a nice meal, seeing a show, getting nice clothing, those things are fun. But that doesn't help any of us, except to highlight reasons why it's nicer to be rich. Even sociability is linked to consumption, and I don't think that's necessarily a symptom of a consumerist culture--I think it's that eating and drinking are sociable activities cross-culturally. I guess I don't really have a solution...I just think we're all caught in a bind.

Ironically, this toy can easily be revamped with some alterations from being about "feminine" shopaholics to "Overspending Government Barbie & Ken", "Overspending Corporate Welfare Barbie & Ken (Including various corporate label accessories like Enron, etc)", and if nothing else, an "Overspending Ken set".

You know, we talk about credit card debt like it's a personal fault or flaw--those kids just don't know the value of a buck, or nobody's teaching them how to manage their money. Maybe that's not the issue.

EG,

I have a friend who was in your position as he ran up substantial credit card debt to pay for schooling expenses as Federal financial aid/loans were cut when he was in school. I can somewhat relate as I had similar concerns about paying for school before I lucked out with a substantial college scholarship.

However, I cannot completely agree that the above statement is not an issue. I've seen far too many classmates and co-workers who racked up debt not because they were struggling financially, but because they lacked basic knowledge of personal finance coupled with an entitlement complex where they felt they deserved the lifestyle that was far in excess of their actual financial means.

That complex was especially annoying as it exhibited itself in their whining to me about their financial problems while remaining seeming oblivious to the fact that it was all brought about by their reckless overspending. What made this entitlement complex worse was that they were earning solid middle/upper-middle class salaries in the area I was working. They were not poor struggling grad students nor entry-level recent graduates.

I wish I'd taken a class on money when I was in high school. Every year when it comes time to do my taxes or fill out a FAFSA, I'm completely lost and freaked out. And my parents are horrible with money. Right now I'm building some credit because I had my aunt co-sign for a sensible car a year ago.

As for cheap things to do in the winter, I run into that problem too, but here are some things I've discovered: cooking/potlucks, swapping movies with friends, board games, getting books and movies from the library, sewing your own clothes, throw pillows, etc. And a lot of museums are free or discounted if you're a student.

EG "I ran up credit card debt as a graduate student--for 8 years I made around 15K a year"

I certainly understand that! I've given up trying to eliminate debt while in grad school, just to keep it from spiraling above 10K or beyond something I would be unable to pay off in a few years after (hopefully) getting a job.

Just out of curiousity, what field are you in?

I'm in English--what about you? Am I remembering rightly that you actually study body image issues?

I have a salary now, which is really excellent, but now I'm staring down my credit card debit and my student loan debt. Sigh.

"I'm in English--what about you? Am I remembering rightly that you actually study body image issues?"

Congratulations - a salaried job! Sounds heavenly :-). Did you end up going into academia, private sector, etc?

I'm in officially in social psychology, although my work is more heavily health psychology and evolutionary psychology. Mainly I study social constructionist and evolutionary perspectives on the body, factors that relate to body dissatisfacion and disordered eating, and also issues related to sexuality, close relationships, and cognition.

Good luck with those student loans!

That is such important work--though I guess you hear that a lot on a feminist website! I very much admire researchers who dedicate themselves to such multifaceted, real-world problems.

I'm in academia, and I really lucked out. There isn't much call for English PhD's in the private sector (quick! I need someone who can analyze the imagery we've been using in this meeting!), and I got my dream job. I really can't believe how fortunate I've been.

"I'm in academia, and I really lucked out. There isn't much call for English PhD's in the private sector (quick! I need someone who can analyze the imagery we've been using in this meeting!), and I got my dream job. I really can't believe how fortunate I've been."

That's wonderful, I'm glad to see all that hard work paid off! lol, it would be funny though to give start quoting Chaucer in the middle of a business meeting.

I'm actually teaching freshman how to write this quarter which is quite an experience.

Yes, I try to do at least some work that has real-world applications - I've just known to many men and women who have serious body image problems that interfere with their relationships, mental concentration, health, etc.

In any case, this is the stuff I do:

http://dfred.bol.ucla.edu

Okay, sorry everyone, I'll stop threadjacking.

Well I live in a big city. the second largest: Los Angeles. During the summer months you can find a lot of fun things to do for free

we should not be teaching kids this at this age. They will be in credit card debt before they are 21. Lets not show kids how to do this.

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