Barbie. She’s a household name. I had a whole mess of Barbies; I dressed them up, brushed their hair and created lives for them when I was a kid, and I’ll bet that many of you did, too. I always dressed mine in a fancy silver ball gown with red velour hearts on the sleeves, and she usually drove around in her honkin’ yellow Barbie Camper, the one that my mother got me for Christmas one year.
Every time I played Barbies, I envisioned mine a horse trainer. Funnily enough, of the 125 job titles Barbie has had in the 50 years she’s been kickin’ around, a horse trainer has never been one of them. She’s been a pet stylist, a dentist and a Mountie, a McDonald’s cashier (I bet she lasted ten minutes working drive-thru during a dinner rush. Just sayin’.) and even a NASCAR driver. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg; Barbie’s resume is pretty stacked.
Barbie’s career came up for renewal recently, and for the first time ever, the public was invited to to vote for her newest position. Out of five titles – a surgeon, an environmentalist, a news anchor, architect or a computer engineer – two were chosen, news anchor and computer engineer. News Anchor Barbie comes with a wireless microphone, a B News clipboard and a surprisingly smart-looking skirt and blazer ensemble (and – I can’t believe I’m saying this, but – a cute pair of heels, too). Computer Engineer Barbie sports a pair of chunky-framed glasses and a laptop, of course. And you know, I’m diggin’ her outfit, too.
The message is obvious: Barbie can be anything she wants to be, and you can be, too! It’s an upbeat, positive message…yet it’s one that, with even the slightest of grammatical errors, can be horribly misconstrued very, very easily.
Perhaps the powers that be should consider ‘Proofreader’ for Barbie’s next career.
Ya, Barbie needs a new editor. Ouch. Or maybe she’s going to be a gynecologist???
LOL, mapsgirl – Zing!
Oh dear. Oh fucking dear. I can’t imagine what fate befell the idiot who should have caught this. Wow. I have to say, though, my five year old loves to play on Barbie.com and I have really been loving the career games on there lately. Okay, so my girly girl gravitates toward the ballerina games, but there are still some wicked cool things going on there.