MATTEL SLIPS BARBIE DOLLS INTO BRITISH SCHOOLS

The marketing department for the new Barbie movie has outdone itself. You’ve no doubt seen Barbie or the color of Barbie pink everywhere in the past couple of months. In England, they managed to load the schools with actual Barbie dolls. Around 700 UK schools were supplied with Barbie and Ken dolls as part of Mattel’s “Barbie School of Friendship” program, which of course, is nothing more than a marketing ploy. Mattel cited research by Cardiff University – research paid for by the Mattel company – that showed the dolls offered “major benefits” for children’s development, such as improving social skills like problem-solving. Besides the dolls, schools were provided with lesson plans, a guide for teachers, guidance concerning children with special educational needs, and branded extras like flashcards and stickers. Critics of the program are questioning why children should be exposed to this type of stealth marketing. Philippa Perry, a psychotherapist and an author of education books, said the “Barbie School of Friendship” program made her “suspicious that it may be exploitative.”
* You certainly can’t put anything past psychotherapist Philippa Perry.
* Solution: A special class teaching the kids how to sell their new Barbies on eBay.
* They couldn’t throw in a couple Transformers for the boys?
* The only problem solving this teaches is how to weasel Barbie accessories out of their parents.