Dolling up Barbie after 60: It's time boyfriend Ken finds his own Ben

Barbie, the perpetually pneumatic doll, is about to ‘complete’ 60 — as we Indians prefer to call it — later this year, so moving the focus from what she looks like to “what she represents” is the most predictable marketing gambit.

Indeed, 60 is about the right age for a makeover, even if there are no wrinkles and grey hair to deal with, given how much the world has changed since she tip-toed onto the toy scene as a “teenage fashion doll” in 1959, named after her creator’s daughter.

Barbie became an impossible icon, then a reviled meme — with consequent falling sales — and has surprisingly made a comeback in the 21st century. No doubt her more diverse modern avatars, altering everything from ethnicity to shape, made her more acceptable to conscientious parents, and therefore accessible to children.


The current era has parents and children with a new set of priorities and beliefs, so the rejigging of the Barbie tale at 60 will have to go further than hues, silhouettes and clothes. Allying with international “sheroes” is a good move but fraught with gender issues.

After all, identifying as anything specific may seem too constricting — and unnecessarily influence young, undecided minds just as Barbie’s wasp waist did decades ago. But one thing is certain, her dorky boyfriend Ken needs to be dumped, or be freed to find his own Ben.