Barbie Brings Mattel Sales and a 60% Increase in Share Price

The Wall Street Journal reports that Matte’s Barbie line is doing very well. Barbie is revitalized, groovy, but, at the same time, good at math. Barbie has been around for 60 years, but has not aged one bit. She’s not as thin (in some models of the iconic doll) as she once was, but who is 60 years later? Ken has changed a bit. You can now get “Ken, the Merman,” or “Orchard Ken” whose only accessory appears to be an apron. Ken looks like a surfer in all his versions and does not show much interest in Barbie or her many careers. The Barbie beach house remains available.

There is Barbie the art teacher, complete with an easel and a little tot set to study under the doll with perfect painted eyebrows. One Barbie comes with a doggie stroller and two tiny dogs. Barbie the polar marine biologist seems to come with a penguin. There are historical-figure Barbies. Florence Nightingale with no patient or even a medicine cabinet, and Rosa Parks with no bus.

There is HBC (Hudson’s Bay Company) Barbie, who comes with a jacket and oar oar in the iconic HBC stripes. Doctor Barbie comes with a cart and two tiny infants. Pilot and Astronaut Barbies do not come with a jet or rocket. There is a pink helicopter available for separate purchase. There is even an Elton John Barbie — no piano nor rocket man.

Chewbacca Barbie is enough to scare the living daylights out of any 9-year-old. So could some of the Ken haircuts. Is a Black Widow Barbie in a skin-tight white suit with Barbie’s 1959 figure really necessary? Barbie female gymnastics coach complete with a pink pommel horse is perhaps Mattel’s best idea. Given the history of male coaches in women’s gymnastics, putting Ken with “sculpted dreadlocks” in that role might not fly off the shelves.

If you thought your choices for cold medicine at CVS were confusing, browse the Barbie website. The Barometer’s hat is off to the folks at Mattel. They have found some well hidden market niches. The Barometer just wonders what the creative staff consumed before coming up with some of the dolls and their accessories. Perhaps the dolls are just a reflection of society. Bug, what is missing is a fairly large chunk of society’s composition: Barbie the mother or Barbie and her family. In fairness to Mattel, there is shower-gift Barbie who is holding a stuffed animal. A must-have for every mother-to-be.

About mmjdiary

Professor Marianne Jennings is an emeritus professor of legal and ethical studies from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, retiring in 2011 after 35 years of teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in ethics and the legal environment of business. During her tenure at ASU, she served as director of the Joan and David Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics from 1995-1999. In 2006, she was appointed faculty director for the W.P. Carey Executive MBA Program. She has done consulting work for businesses and professional groups including AICPA, Boeing, Dial Corporation, Edward Jones, Mattel, Motorola, CFA Institute, Southern California Edison, the Institute of Internal Auditors, AIMR, DuPont, AES, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Motorola, Hy-Vee Foods, IBM, Bell Helicopter, Amgen, Raytheon, and VIAD. The sixth edition of her textbook, Case Studies in Business Ethics, was published in February 2011. The ninth edition of her textbook, Business: lts Legal, Ethical and Global Environment was published in January 2011. The 23rd edition of her book, Business Law: Principles and Cases, will be published in January 2013. The tenth edition of her book, Real Estate Law, will also be published in January 2013. Her book, A Business Tale: A Story of Ethics, Choices, Success, and a Very Large Rabbit, a fable about business ethics, was chosen by Library Journal in 2004 as its business book of the year. A Business Tale was also a finalist for two other literary awards for 2004. In 2000 her book on corporate governance was published by the New York Times MBA Pocket Series. Her book on long-term success, Building a Business Through Good Times and Bad: Lessons from Fifteen Companies, Each With a Century of Dividends, was published in October 2002 and has been used by Booz, Allen, Hamilton for its work on business longevity. Her latest book, The Seven Signs of Ethical Collapse was published by St. Martin’s Press in July 2006 and has been a finalist for two book awards. Her weekly columns are syndicated around the country, and her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Reader's Digest. A collection of her essays, Nobody Fixes Real Carrot Sticks Anymore, first published in 1994 is still being published. She has been a commentator on business issues on All Things Considered for National Public Radio. She has served on four boards of directors, including Arizona Public Service (1987-2000), Zealous Capital Corporation, and the Center for Children with Chronic Illness and Disability at the University of Minnesota. She was appointed to the board of advisors for the Institute of Nuclear Power Operators in 2004 and served on the board of trustees for Think Arizona, a public policy think tank. She has appeared on CNBC, CBS This Morning, the Today Show, and CBS Evening News. In 2010 she was named one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders in Business Ethics by Trust Across America. Her books have been translated into four different languages. She received the British Emerald award for authoring one of their top 50 articles in management publications, chosen from over 15,000 articles. Personal: Married since 1976 to Terry H. Jennings, Maricopa County Attorney’s Office Deputy County Attorney; five children: Sarah, Sam, and John, and the late Claire and Hannah Jennings.
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