March 9 is Barbie's birthday. This is her fiftieth birthday so you will find posts and photos all over the Internet and on other media - radio and television, too. Everyone has a Barbie story. But what of the Birthday Girl, herself?
If I could have one wish granted by Mattel regarding Barbie, I would ask that they please God, S T O P stapling Barbie's head to the boxes. Ceasing the barbaric practice of doll head stapling - attaching a plastic strip in the doll's head and attaching the other end of that strip to the doll's box - would spare countless children, parents, and collectors gratuitous torture suffered upon attempts to remove the unwanted plastic strips. It would also reduce waste of plastic materials. Think how that plastic could be used for needed and desired items or NOT created at all. But most importantly, it would allow Barbie to retain all of her hair intact.
I think that collectors, parents, and children everywhere should take this time, Barbie's 50th birthday year, to petition Mattel to save Barbie's head. Stop the head stapling practice. Do it for Barbie.
I understand that the attachments are to keep the dolls' heads from moving around, but action figure companies have just as much success keeping their toys stationary with plastic trays. I wish Mattel would do the same. Notice how it's only with the female dolls? They don't attach the male dolls' heads.
ReplyDeleteDid you try the magnifying glass trick yet? I got some nice results with a 2x magnifying glass and my macro zoom setting. I just had to be careful of the glare from the light reflecting off the magnifying glass. All of the close-ups in this ep of LHF were taken with the help of a magnifying glass.
http://oddpla.net/lhf/?p=312
Oh, I had thought that the attachments were to reduce or to discourage theft ;-P. That was my reasoning when I tried to understand WHY some companies bolt the dolls' heads to the boxes. Mattel isn't the only culprit. Spinmaster Toys bolt their Hrithik Roshan action figure to his box. And Mattel has bolted some male dolls - Tango Ken comes to mind - to the box. Shrug.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have thought that most fashion dolls needed their heads bolted to the box. The plastic tray addition that action figure companies use is vastly preferable. Even if there is extra plastic used.
I'm going to write a post about the results of my magnifying glass efforts and comments on your LHF episode. Thanks for returning to this subject ;-D