"Fashions followers will notice the young boy in the video has been intentionally styled to resemble Moschino creative director Jeremy Scott, with a voluminous blond faux-hawk hairstyle matching the designer’s. Scott has called Barbie a muse, telling Style.com: 'Like every girl and gay boy, I loved Barbie.'"
The ad is already resonating with other male Barbie fans. One of the top comments on Moschino Barbie’s YouTube video comes from RuPaul’s Drag Race star Pandora Boxx, who wrote: “This almost made me cry! I used to play with my sister’s Barbies and felt such shame afterward. I’m so glad we can just let kids be kids. Thank you for this! Boys like dolls too!”Here's what Jeremy Scott looks like, in case you don't know, which I think is a good bet.
Posts
50 comments:
My only problem is with the overly styled little boy. I can't stand a precocious kid.
It has a girl's neck.
Good to see that a guy with a very plain, boy next door fixing the air-conditioner, face managed to make himself at least minimally interesting to the camera.
"My only problem is with the overly styled little boy."
It's a play on the designer's image.
Yeah, I get that. I hate it. Reminds me of Willow Smith. Too much adult, not enough kid.
Also, does every gay boy love Barbie? Isn't that stereotyping gay boys/men? A lot of gay boys like football! And then, some straight boys like Barbie.
"Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months."
--Oscar Wilde
ISTM this is an invitation for parents who see their boy playing with Barbie to decide to "over support" him into getting an outlandish hairstyle and admitting he's gay.
(I love Althouse's "over support" concept)
I found the boy to be over the top gay. Hit every gay stereotype. I would think you would find it offensive, Ann.
I played with dolls as a kid. My son played with dolls as a kid. My grandson still does.
Not Barbies. More like green plastic soldiers, action heros, Transformers and Lego stuff. Dolls all the same. I played with my dad's cast lead wwI soldiers. They would probably be worth a lot of money now had I not beat them up pretty good.
Or do "dolls" have to be girly in appearance.
John Henry
When will they come out with the Barbie doll that has a pronounced Adam's Apple and large hands?
Plus, did the kid have a lisp at the end when he said, "It's for you Moschino Barbie [wink]."
Why are stereotypes offensive? Seriously.
Why are stereotypes offensive?
Because they contain unwanted truths.
Why are stereotypes offensive? Seriously.
I don't think they are offensive. Usually. And I don't find this offensive. I just find this ad to be the complete opposite of what we usually hear from the kind of gender neutral toy crowd that wants ads to show that girls to play with Legos and boys to use Easy Bake ovens.
*do
I thought all the kids were adorable. I'm a little disapproving of the idea that "having it all" is having expensive clothes and everyone in the ad, including Barbie, is very styled up, especially hair-wise. But the kids were wholesome and happy, in basically the same wholesome, wide-eyed over-happiness that we've seen in TV toy ads since the beginning of TV (a style that was satirized in the great "Ren & Stimpy" faux-ad for a log).
Here's the log ad.
I've never met a young boy who plays with Barbie. They're not missing anything either.
No kids that age that I know look or act like that. I agree with MayBee on this. My son plays with his sister's Barbie's plenty; most of the boys my age did as well. It wasn't a big deal; I'm not sure why grown ups have to make it a big deal. They are attaching meaning to something completely innocent, but that is adults I suppose. One of my boy cousins played Barbies with us all the time. All The Time. He is married with four children now. Perhaps he has just been forced into his love of women? Because Patriarchy?
I'll also add that my girls are obsessed with Star Wars. My 4 year old asked Santa for Star Wars action figures for the past two Christmases. He obliged. It's no big deal. I guess if we made it a big deal, it would be a big deal.
My only problem is with that giant cell phone. Is Barbie calling in air support?
I wished I hadn't clicked through to the photo of that -- whatever it is. I mean, seriously, who wears two watches set to the same time zone?
Dodo dynasty. Pro-choice/abortion and gender confusion. It's no wonder that there is a demand for alien replacements.
Degenerate.
"Boys like dolls too" kinda misses the mark when the thesis is that gay boys like dolls.
Pretty sure non-gay ones might, too, but this tack just keeps them not wanting to admit it to their peer groups.
(Except of course for "action figures", which are ... dolls.)
"I'm not sure why grown ups have to make it a big deal"
Because selling toys is a business. This is an ad for a commercial product!
""Boys like dolls too" kinda misses the mark when the thesis is that gay boys like dolls."
It's not generically boys like dolls, but specifically, a very high-fashion doll. This is for boys who are into fashion designers. I'm sure there are some non-gay boys who have that interest.
No negging on teh gheys. Got it.
Life will take care of that.
What do you want on your millstone?
Ann Althouse said...This is for boys who are into fashion designers. I'm sure there are some non-gay boys who have that interest.
Did someone leak the Project Runway Jr. demographic test data to you, Prof?
"I'm sure there are some non-gay boys who have that interest"
Sure. Sounds like a yuuugely profitable business to me.
"This is for boys who are into fashion designers. I'm sure there are some non-gay boys who have that interest."
Not many if we look at grown up male fashion designers. Ralph Lauren is the only hetero male fashion designer I can think of.
G.I. Joe was a doll.
This is for boys who are into fashion designers. I'm sure there are some non-gay boys who have that interest.
Assumes facts not in evidence....
It's not generically boys like dolls, but specifically, a very high-fashion doll. This is for boys who are into fashion designers
I'm thinking now of the parents of the kids- boys or girls- who are into designer fashion dolls. The parent plays a really big role in that demographic, no? A six year old doesn't fall into a love for Moschino on his own. They are probably by and large a group of the over supporting type.
"G.I. Joe was a doll."
G. I. Joe is an action figure. Only gay boys play with dolls.
Well, horny boys, too. Bitch be built, bro!
Ann Althouse said..."This is for boys who are into fashion designers. I'm sure there are some non-gay boys who have that interest."
Isn't trying to assign sexual preferences to six year old boys a little over the top?
What Moschino Barbie would be complete without Pratha, the fast fashion garment worker doll?
I am convinced that the producers of Real Housewives... Don't be Tardy, etc, etc, take that position that their shows are live versions of dollhouses for grownup girls. I mean what's with the Barbie hair, over the top makeup, boob jobs, etc? Then you had a modest admixture of Ken dolls to spice things up and you Watch What Happens! It's a hit!
I loved dolls. I played with my sister's dolls.
tits and muscles
I love fashion too-and designers.
I am into Thom Browne currently.
tits and muscles
It's not generically boys like dolls, but specifically, a very high-fashion doll. This is for boys who are into fashion designers.
I'm sure there are boys who are into ripping the fashions off the dolls, then tossing the dolls in the trash upon realizing that they're not anatomically correct. Don't ask me why I'm sure of that.
Sure, action figures like GI Joe are "dolls". Only they aren't, or at least they weren't when I was a kid. I had an elaborate set of space rangers or something like that, with which I played boy-ish games, i.e., the good-guy space rangers disintegrated the bad-guy space villains, etc. I also had a large collection of marionettes (dolls with strings, you could say), with which I created plays and stories.
The boy in the ad is presented as very much a gay. I don't really know if a boy that young is usually that aware of his sexual orientation, but I'd be VERY surprised if the ad "turns" a straight kid into a gay kid.
The Godfather said...
Sure, action figures like GI Joe are "dolls".
I was pre-GI Joe, but blowing up those plastic "Army men" with firecrackers and burning them with death rays (Fresnel lenses) seems qualitatively different than dressing them up and serving them tea.
The photo of that designer reminded me of a dinner we had at the Paris Ritz a few years ago on my wife's birthday. We were sitting there and looking at a raucous large table where some of the weirdest characters one could ever see were frolicking. One was a obviously flamboyant gay who looked like that photo but who had a costume consisting of one red legging and a bare leg on the other side.
Another couple were sitting at the next table and I asked them if they knew what was going on. They told me it was a group from a big Paris fashion show. That explained it.
Islam Ken has no need for your Judgment.
Burka Barbie is unavailable for comment.
And no longer has a clit.
I am Laslo.
I'm not sure why grown ups have to make it a big deal. They are attaching meaning to something completely innocent, but that is adults I suppose.
Ever see a little league parent, making a Big Deal out of kids playing baseball? This is the gay version of that.
The log is "better than bad" lol. But is it better than nothing?
That guy from Sartorialist is straight. And he is clearly into fashion.
I was a Skipper fan myself. Skipper was hot. And Kens a Mo.
Wayland Smithers, I presume.
My wife used to work for Ruth Handler, not at Mattel, but at her breast prosthesis business. During a portion of that time, my wife was room mates with with Handler's daughter, Barbara, after whom "Barbie" was named.
My wife moved to Northern CA a few months before we met and left the employ of Ms. Handler, but they maintained a relationship for years afterward. I spoke to Ms. Handler a couple of times as she would call my wife every few months to check in. Ruth always asked to speak with me to see how our relationship was going and to ensure I was doing my part to take care of "her Suzie"... From my phone conversations I was very impressed and could tell that Ruth was very smart, very funny, extremely wise and was a sincerely caring person.
My wife would speak to Barbara on occasion as well, but 'Barbie' soon went her own way and was dealing with some personal issues that distanced her from her family and from her friends including my wife.
IMO, I see Barbie not just as harmless, but as helpful and in the end, fun and not as some insidious anti-girl/female device. I can say for certain that Ruth Handler only intended the best outcomes for those who bought and played with her dolls.
As a young boy, I thought Barbie was "stupid". But I do think the our culture and young girls (and boys who for whatever reasons, like Barbies) are diminished by PC bashing of Barbie.. among the many other things in our culture that have been decimated by political-correctness.
Post a Comment