Barbie turns 50 years old this year and what better way to celebrate than with a tattoo? Mattel has released "Totally Stylin' Tattoos Barbie." The doll comes with a set of more than 40 tiny tattoo stickers that can be placed on her body. Also included is a faux tattoo gun with wash-off tats that kids can use to ink themselves. Classy.Tattoos are not my thing but I have friends who have them on their ankles, etc and I think it is fine. My question is this: Do we really need our 7-yr-old daughters thinking that they need a tattoo to be "stylin'?" I know that fake tattoos for kids have been around forever but the "Cracker Jack" tattoo is not the kind Mattel is peddling. One of Barbie's tats is a lower back tattoo that says "Ken" with a big heart around it.
I would love to have been a fly on the wall in the Mattel boardroom when the marketing dude pitched this brilliant idea. The craziest part to me is that some exec had to put his (tramp) stamp of approval on it. Maybe I'm not seeing it? Am I over-reacting? Like I said before, I think tattoos are fine for grown adults. I just don't think we need any more messages from society telling young girls they need to do things to their bodies to be considered sexy or stylin'. Discuss.If you want to read more about it, go here.
