International Business – Oxford University Press – Prof. Rakesh Mohan Joshi
Chapter 14
Case Study
BARBIE FACES ISLAMIC DOLLS
Barbie, so named by ideator Ruth Handler after daughter Barbara’s nickname, became the
world’s most popular fashion doll. Handler found that young girls enjoyed playing out their
dreams in adult roles when she saw her daughter Barbara playing with a paper doll and imagining
it as a grown up. Most children’s dolls available at that time represented infants. This gave rise to
an idea of a teenage doll, Barbie. Handler co-founded Mattel, a Southern California toy company
with her husband Elliot Handler, and spearheaded the introduction of the doll. Barbie’s physical
appearance was modelled on the German Bild Lilli doll, a risqué gag gift for a man, based upon
the cartoon character featured in the West German newspaper Bild Zeitung. Barbie made its debut
in the American International Toy Fair in New York on 9 March, 1959. This date is also
considered to be Barbie’s official birthday.
Barbie sells over ₤1 billion annually across 150 countries. It is estimated that three Barbie dolls
are sold every second1. Although Barbie was positioned as the ultimate American girl, it was
never manufactured in the US, primarily to avoid higher production costs. The first Barbie dolls
were manufactured in Japan with their clothes hand-stitched by Japanese home-workers. In the
first year of production, around 350,000 Barbie dolls were sold. The Mattel-owned four factories,
two in China and one each in Malaysia and Indonesia 2, produce over 100 million Barbie dolls a
year. However, a number of other companies produced Barbie-licensed products.
The process of Barbie production is very complex, which includes shipping the dolls from one
country to another for different processes. To illustrate, the United States ships the cardboard
packaging, paint pigments, and moulds to manufacturing facilities in China that provides the
factory space, labour, electricity, and cotton cloth for Barbie dresses. Taiwan refines the oil into
ethylene for plastic pellets for Barbie’s body whereas Japan attaches the nylon hair. International
shipping operations are carried out by Hong Kong-based managers.
1
‘Vintage Barbie Struts her Stuff’, BBC News, 22 September, 2006
Ritz, Ashish, ‘Introducing: Slave Barbie’, available at http://ihscslnews.org/view_article.php?id=187,
December, 2006; ‘The Creation of a Barbie’, available at
http://www.lclark.edu/~soan221/97/Barbie5.html
2
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International Business – Oxford University Press – Prof. Rakesh Mohan Joshi
Barbie is a plastic vinyl doll with the figure of an adult woman whose full name is Barbie
Millicent Robert. Initially, Barbie was marketed as a glamorous, physically developed teenage
fashion model with a range of fashion accessories. With her hair in a ponytail, and dressed in a
black and white stripped bathing suit and sunglasses, Barbie proved an instant and phenomenal
marketing success among young girls. Barbie has had over 40 pets, including 21 dogs, 14 horses,
6 cats, parrot, chimpanzee, panda, lion cub, giraffe and a zebra. In response to consumer demand,
in 1961, Mattel brought out Barbie’s ultimate ‘accessory’—her boyfriend, the fashion conscious
Ken (Figure A). Unlike other, baby-like dolls, Barbie did not teach nurturing. Barbie has no
parents or offspring.
Figure A Barbie with her Boyfriend Ken
Over the years Barbie has become very popular among young girls. She has been the subject of
numerous books and controversies, besides, being the star in her own movies. Young girls love
Barbie because she continually evolves as girls change. Barbie remains paramount in the hearts
and minds of girls and moms alike because she reflects the interests, activities, and aspirations of
present-day girls. Barbie offers a way for girls to play out their dreams and fantasies in a way that
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International Business – Oxford University Press – Prof. Rakesh Mohan Joshi
is relevant to today’s girls. She is also credited to have provided many young girls an alternative
to restrictive fifties’ gender roles. She demonstrates girls that they can be anything they want to
be—a princess, a teacher, an Olympic athlete, a doctor, a pilot, or even astronaut. The doll
became a role model for financial self-sufficiency, outfitted with career paraphernalia.
Barbie’s marketing strategy involved meticulous product customization to suit diverse cultures
across the world. The dolls are customized to represent varied cultures, regions, and occasions
(Figure B). It is estimated that since 1959, over a billion Barbie dolls representing over 45
nationalities and 80 occupations have been sold worldwide.
Irish
Indian
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International Business – Oxford University Press – Prof. Rakesh Mohan Joshi
Japanese
German
African
Chinese
Figure B:Barbie’s customization across world markets
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International Business – Oxford University Press – Prof. Rakesh Mohan Joshi
The Chinese Barbie evokes the exotic Far East with a costume inspired by those of the Qing
Dynasty. The Egyptian Barbie wears a serpent ornament with a stunning golden crown inspired
by the royalty of ancient Egypt. The Moja Barbie perfectly reflects the grandeur of the African
continent. Mattel has customized the Barbie doll for India as well by cladding her in the
conventional sari and traditional jewellery especially designed to appeal to Indian masses.
Barbie dolls have also been designed to symbolize various festivals across the world. Indian
Barbie symbolizes Diwali; Kwanzaa Barbie, the African-American celebrations kwanza, means
the first fruit of the harvest; Carnival Barbie, the week-long joyous Brazilian celebrations of
music, dance, sequins, and feathers at Rio de Janeiro; Chinese New-year Barbie, the ancient
festival of Chinese New year beginning with the new moon on the first day of the year that ends
the evening of the full moon on the 15th day, called the Lantern festival, etc.
Barbie is also known as the ‘most collectible doll in the world’. Through the years, she has
developed from a teenage fashion model to a trendsetter and fashion adventurer. The four major
types of Barbie collectors include pink, silver, gold, and platinum label Barbies. Packaged in
pink-trimmed boxes, Pink Label Barbies are widely available and not limited to production
numbers. Silver Label Barbies, packaged in silver-trimmed boxes are only available at select
retailers can be produced at only 50,000. Gold Label dolls are even more difficult to find as only
25,000 of each edition can be produced worldwide.
Despite Barbie’s diverse product portfolio, considerable competition has evolved from new dolls
like the funky Bratz, the long-term UK rival Sindy, and Islamic dolls.
Barbie’s Criticism and the Islamic Market
In many countries, Barbie’s curvaceous body and revealing garments are perceived to promote
sexuality and promiscuity. The standard size of the Barbie doll, 11.5 inches, corresponds to a real
height of 5 feet 9 inches at 1/6 scale. Barbie’s vital statistics have been estimated at 36 inches
(chest), 18 inches (waist), and 33 inches (hips). Barbie has been criticized for unrealistic body
proportions and for promoting materialism associated with amassing cars, houses, and clothes.
Girls tend to develop an inferiority complex, as they grow up, if they can’t look exactly like
Barbie. The desire to attain the physical appearance and lifestyle similar to Barbie has been
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International Business – Oxford University Press – Prof. Rakesh Mohan Joshi
termed as ‘Barbie syndrome’. Although pre-teen and adolescent females are more prone to the
Barbie syndrome, it is applicable to any age group.
Barbie came under fire in Russia and was banned in 2002 because the doll was thought to awaken
sexual impulses in the very young, and encourage consumerism among Russian children3. The
Commission for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, known as moral police or
mutaween in Saudi Arabia, declared Barbie dolls a threat to morality and offensive to Islam4.
Barbie was banned in Saudi Arabia5 in 2003 as Saudi Arabia’s religious police found the Jewish
Barbie dolls with their revealing clothes and shameful postures, accessories, and tools, as a
symbol of the decadence of the West.
Dolls for the Islamic World
Product adaptation to cultural sensitivities is crucial to success in international markets. Mattel
markets a Moroccan Barbie and collectors’ doll Leyla that represent Muslim women. Leyla’s
elaborate costume and the backstory of being enslaved in the court of a Turkish sultan were
intended to convey the tribulations of a popular Muslim character from the 1720s. However,
Mattel’s portrayal of the Middle Eastern Barbie as the stereotype of a belly dancer or a concubine
hardly appealed to present-day Muslim customers.
A number of dolls have been launched for Islamic markets (Figure C) not only to fill the
marketing void but also to offer Muslim girls someone they can relate to. Therefore, most Muslim
buyers identify more closely with Islamic dolls as one of them rather than with the stranger
Barbie. Islamic dolls generally show young girls that the hijab (veil) is a normal part of a
woman’s life. If the girls put scarves on their dolls when they are young, the parents believe it
might be easier to do so for themselves in real life, when their time comes. Sometimes, it is
difficult for girls to put on the hijab. They feel it is the end of their childhood. Muslim parents
often prefer to buy Islamic dolls over Barbie as it expresses their way of life. Islamic dolls are
conceptualized to be the role model for children in Islamic cultures, representing how most
Muslim buyer like their daughters to dress and behave.
3
4
5
‘Barbie is Banned from Russia, Without Love’, The Observer, 24 November, 2002
‘Barbie Deemed Threat to Saudi Morality’, USA Today, 10 September, 2003
‘Saudi Bans Female Doll Imports’, Guardian, 18 December, 2003
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International Business – Oxford University Press – Prof. Rakesh Mohan Joshi
Razanne (In-out)
Fulla
Fig. C Dolls for the Islamic markets
Islamic dolls launched in the market, include Sara from Iran, Fulla form Syria, Razanne by a
Michigan-based US Company, Saghira from Morocco, and Salma from Indonesia
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International Business – Oxford University Press – Prof. Rakesh Mohan Joshi
Fulla
Conceptualised by a Damascus-based Syrian toy manufacturer, New Boy Toys, Fulla was aimed
at children in Islamic markets across the world. The concept to bring out an Islamic doll evolved
around 1999 and was carefully honed. Fulla’s creators have gone to great length to make her
modest and conservative. It took fifty animators, artists, and psychologists eighteen months to
design her face. Like any Western ad agency with a product or politician to sell, Fulla’s creators
turned to focus groups to test their progress. The product development team considered ten
different faces before settling on the Fulla look: large brown eyes and long, coal-black hair
streaked with auburn.
Fulla, alternative to Barbie for children in the Islamic countries, hit stores in late 2003. Within a
couple of years of its launch, Fulla became the dream of every Arab girl and the hottest-selling
doll in the Middle East. The product profile of Fulla and her accessories have grown manifold.
Now there is a ‘Singing Fulla’ and a ‘Talking Fulla’ pushing a luggage cart with suitcases to hold
the dozens of seasonal outfits that crowd their closets. The product catalogue runs to almost 80
pages and includes 150 Fulla-licensed items, ranging from cameras to CD players to inflatable
chairs and swimming pools. Girls from Beirut to Bahrain carry Fulla umbrellas, wear Fulla
watches, ride Fulla bicycles, and eat Fulla corn-flakes.
The name Fulla is derived from a fragrant jasmine flower found only in the Middle East. Like
Barbie, she is 11½ inch tall, but unlike Mattel’s products, she is visibly less bosomy. There is no
such thing as a single Arab look, but broader features and heavier figures are more the norm
among Arab women. However, Fulla’s button nose, bow mouth, and svelte figure testify to the
internationalization of Western standards of beauty, superceding indigenous ideas of beauty.
Fulla’s complexion is olive compared to Barbie’s peaches-and-cream skin-tone, her hair is much
thicker than Barbie’s blonde mane and her face is fuller than6 that of the typical American, but
otherwise she is much the same.
To make her more acceptable in Saudi Arabia, one of the richest and most conservative Islamic
countries, she was initially dressed in a black abaya and headscarf, but without the veil most
Saudi women wear. The manufacturer did not go to the extremes of covering the face of the little
6
‘Fulla- the Arab World’s Barbie’, Khaleej Times, 25 Nov., 2006
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girl. Although, Fulla was dressed in a black abaya and headscarf for the Saudi market, it had no
veil in other markets. For relatively liberal Islamic countries, such as Syria and Lebanon, Fulla
has a white scarf and pastel coat making her outdoor clothes more colourful. Since Muslim
women do not show much skin unlike their Western counterparts, Fulla’s shoulders are always
covered and the skirt always falls below her knees. The carefully drawn marketing strategy could
maintain the brand identity of a conservative girl rather than being just another doll trying to
reflect Barbie.
The toy capitalizes on the Islamization of cultural life in the Arab world as evidenced in a
heightened focus on dress and rituals. Like most Muslims in the Arab world, Fulla has two sets of
clothes. Form-fitting, revealing outfits are sported at home, while items that cover the arms, legs,
neck, and often the hair are donned in public (Figure C). This concept of two wardrobes and
especially that of the conservative ‘outdoor’ outfits is what mainly distinguishes the Arab dolls
form their Western counterparts. Fulla’s clothes include cloaks and prayer outfits that conceal her
long dark-brown hair. She also has her own prayer mat7, in pink felt.
With her two wardrobes, Fulla taps into the Arab Muslim market by combining religious identity
with femininity. The skirts in Fulla’s ‘home’ wardrobe may not rise north of the knee, but many
of her tops are close fitting and brightly coloured. Nowadays, many Arab women sport these
‘home’ outfits outdoors, topped with a scarf.
The brand personality of Fulla is designed to be ‘loving, caring, honest, and respectful to her
parents’. She is honest and does not lie. Fulla has two friends, Yasmeen and Nada, as well a little
brother and sister. Fulla has an older protective brother too. Fulla would never have a boyfriend
unlike her Western counterpart, Barbie, as this is frowned upon in Islam.
Even the commercials for dolls in the Middle East are designed to represent Islamic values. For
instance, in Saudi Arabia, Barbie is shown to offer her prayers as the sun rises, bake a cake to
surprise her friend, or read a book at bedtime. Fulla is also depicted to be family-oriented
promoting modest outfits. Commercials even promote, ‘when you take your Fulla out of the
house, don’t forget her new spring abaya’.
Barbie vs. Fulla
7
‘Barbie Hasn’t a Prayer Against Devout Islamic Doll,’ The Sunday Times, 22 January2006
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International Business – Oxford University Press – Prof. Rakesh Mohan Joshi
Barbie and Fulla offer contrasting role models (Figure D) to customers. Although both Barbie and
Fulla have a wide range of costumes, jewellery, furniture and other accessories, the outdoors
clothes of Fulla do not include swimwear or anything revealing. Besides, Fulla has a smaller
chest, is skinnier compared to Barbie’s curves, large breasts and shapely legs. An average Barbie
is designed to have blond hair, blue eyes, and fair skin whereas Fulla has dark hairs, brown eyes
and olive skin. New Boy also introduced dolls with lighter hair and eyes, assuming they would be
popular in Mediterranean regions where blue-eyed blonds are not unknown. However, both the
dolls have been criticized for presenting the same unrealistic idea of beauty, a certain image for
women to conform to.
Figure D Barbie and Fulla: contrasting role models
Fulla is differentiated from Barbie in terms of her lifestyle and appearance. Shopping, spending
time with her friends, cooking, reading, and praying are Fulla’s favourite activities whereas
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International Business – Oxford University Press – Prof. Rakesh Mohan Joshi
Barbie has a wide range of hobbies and careers. Unlike Barbie, a perennial job-hopper for about
last half a century, who has been everything from an astronaut to the US president, Fulla remains
a traditional Arab woman, whose life revolves around the family, serving as a role model for
Muslim girls. Fulla has also been designed to be a doctor and a teacher, the two most respected
careers in the Islamic world.
A large number of Fulla items are manufactured in the same Chinese factories that turn out
Barbie and her related products. That’s partly because the items are identical and partly because
these factories meet the safety standards set by the United Arab Emirates, through which the Fulla
line is distributed.
Other Dolls for the Islamic Markets
Dolls aimed at the Islamic markets also include Sara, Razanne, Saghira, and Salma. The Iranian
doll Sara was introduced as an alternative to Barbie in 2002 by the Institute for the Intellectual
Development of Children and Young Adults, a government agency affiliated with the Ministry of
Education. She has a brother Dara unlike Barbie’s boyfriend, Ken (Figure E). The dolls have a
distinct ‘eastern look’ complete with Iranian clothes. The siblings help each other to solve
problems and turn to their loving parents for guidance. The children are supposed to be eight
years old, young enough under the Islamic law for Sara to appear in public without a headscarf.
But each model of Sara comes with a white scarf to cover her brown or black hair. In the first
round of production, 100,000 dolls were made by a manufacturer in China.
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International Business – Oxford University Press – Prof. Rakesh Mohan Joshi
Figure E Iranian doll Sara has a brother doll Dara unlike Barbie’s beau Ken
Razanne was created as an alternative to Barbie for American Muslim girls by Ammar and
Sherrie Saadeh at their toy company NoorArt based in Livonia, Michigan, outside of Detroit.
Razanne has long-sleeved dresses, a head scarf, and a not-so-buxom-bustline. Unlike Barbie,
Razanne, with her modest dress and a removable hijab, exemplifies the virtues of a proper, young
Muslim woman, such as modesty, piety, and humility. Moreover, the doll is more than a toy. It is
a tool for young Muslim girls to learn the value of things like education and religious piety
instead of focusing on their bodies as the most significant aspect of their lives. Razanne has the
body of a pre-teen. The doll comes in various types: fair-skinned blonde, olive-skinned with black
hair, or black skin and black hair. Her aspirations represent a modern Muslim woman. Praying
Razanne, who comes complete with a long hijab and a modest prayer gown, is aimed to attract
Saudi Arabia and other Islamic markets. There’s In-Out Razanne (Figure C), whose wardrobe
also includes a short, flowery dress she can wear inside the home, in view of the men in her
family only8.
Saghira was created by a Moroccan manufacturer in 2005–06 and launched in January 2007 in
the Morocco market. She has a mix of both authentic traditional and Western attire, but her
accessories, even if Western versions, are based on the articles usually found in Arabic and
Muslim households. The dolls come both in veiled and unveiled models, the latter representing
Saghira within her home or in a family environment. Each model has a different Arabic girl’s
8
‘Muslim Doll Offers Modest Alternative to Barbie’, CNN, 8 October, 2003
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International Business – Oxford University Press – Prof. Rakesh Mohan Joshi
name: Amira (princess), Doaa (Prayer), Aya, Abir, Ahd, Shada, Nada, Dahab, Najma, Nour, Lina,
etc.
Little Farah is designed to recite some most commonly used Islamic phrases (Fig.) in Arabic and
English. For instance: ‘welcome Assalamu’; ‘Alaikum peace be upon you’; ‘Lets Begin Bismillah
in the name of Allah’; ‘I promise Inshallah if Allah wills’. An Indonesian businesswoman,
Sukmawati Suryaman, created Salma 9, which means ‘peace’ in Arabic, targeted at young Muslim
girls. The toy is marketed as the ‘Muslim Barbie Doll’ on the net.
The world’s bestselling doll, Barbie, which enchanted little girls across the globe, is being
elbowed off the toy shelves in the Middle East markets by Islamic playmates. The new dolls
aimed at Islamic markets strive to create a character that parents and teachers want children to
relate to. These represent that Muslim girls too have options, goals, and dreams and also the
ability to realize them unlike the stereotype Barbie aimed at Muslim consumers. Moreover, the
surge in sales of Muslim girls’ toys, including the veiled dolls, comes amid new enthusiasm
among Muslim women for wearing the veil10.
Questions:
1. Explore the secret of Barbie’s success that made it the dream-toy for girls across the
world.
2. Sensitivity to culture is crucial to success in international markets. Evaluate Barbie’s
product adaptation for different markets.
3. Barbie has been criticized for its curvaceous, unrealistic body and materialism, leading to
controversies and its ban in some countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Russia. On the
other hand, Islamic dolls are criticized for promoting gender stereotypes and restrictive
roles. In your opinion, to what extent are such criticism and bans justified?
4. Despite adaptation to represent vast ethnic groups, nationalities, and occasions, Barbie
dolls have been jostled out from the Islamic markets. Identify the key reasons.
5. In view of the fast-growing popularity of Islamic dolls among Muslim customers across
the world, suggest a marketing plan to address the specific needs of the Islamic markets.
Also evaluate the impact of suggested plan on the brand image of Barbie in other
markets.
9
10
‘Barbie Inspires Modest, Muslim Alternative’, Reuters, UK, 10 Oct, 2007
‘Barbie Looses out to Veiled Rival’, BBC News, 12tJan., 2006
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