Barbie Doll Advertisement - Essay Example

Market Segmentation: Barbie doll Advertisement Advertising plays a significant role in providing a link between the audiences and products. Market segmentation helps advertisers to target desired consumers by dividing them into groups based on gender, age, interest and then sell this information to advertisers (Coulter, 2014, p.417). Segmentation is key in media production as it allows advertisers to understand their audiences with an aim of designing advertisements that suit the different target groups (Gasher, Skinner, and Lorimer, 2012, p.110). The following essay explains how market segmentation for pre-tween girls works, by providing product that is desirable by targeted groups. The market segmentation and semiotic analysis of Barbie advertisement for pre-tween girls reveals that their advertisement is geared towards the dominant ideology which promote the ideal image of female beauty and body type. In America, prior to 1959, most dolls were either infants or toddlers. The Barbie doll, was the first adult doll toy. She was adopted from the German doll Bild Lilli. The creator of the Barbie doll, Handler, was inspired by her daughter, who was giving adult roles to paper dolls to create a doll with mature body. The Barbie doll was named after Handler’s daughter Barbara. Since then Barbie dolls became very popular among girls. The toy market took advantage of a child’s desire for “the whole spectrum of character licenced products” (Coulter, 2014, p.417) and as a result, they created a licence for character products, which allow Barbie’s doll image to appear on cloths, magazines, board games and later on online games. As Coulter (2014) notes, the market for children is divided into segments based on the age and gender of the child (p.417). The purpose of market segmentation in such categories as boys/girls, infants, babies and toddlers is to sell more products. If a child uses the same toy without wanting a new one, then toy producers will have less profit. Therefore, the market is divided not just into gender, but also into age categories. For example, pre-tween boys are interested in Transformers and Hot Wheels, while girls are interested in Bratz and Barbie dolls. Younger boys are interested in Spiderman and girls are interested in Strawberry Shortcake. Market segmentation was created not only to understand the audiences and consumers, but also to create the constant need for new products. Using the Barbie advertisement, illustrated on page 6, I will demonstrate how market segmentation works in practice. The segmentation of consumers is helpful because it narrows consumer groups based on gender and age. For example, the consumers of Barbie dolls are pre-tween girls who are interested in fashion, and who want to be like adults. Therefore, they want to have a toy that will meet their desires. Girls between eight and twelve desire Barbie dolls that have different hair colours, various outfits and belong to diverse ethnic groups. Coulter (2014) notes “media companies are attempting to diversify the market and reach out to young consumers of colour” (p.418). The Barbie dolls were not an exception and this is evidenced through the fashionista ad where one of the dolls is black. Dividing the market into segments allows Barbie dolls to target their specific target group which is girls of pre-tween age by preventing children from using these dolls. First of all, Barbie dolls are expensive for a child who is younger than eight years because small children tend to break toys and draw on them, and expensive Barbie dolls are not the best experiment for a child to explore body structure and or as a canvas for paintings. Secondly, mother’s discussions on the blogs showed that young children do not seem to be very interested in Barbie dolls (Myamum, 2012). Thirdly, most of Barbie’s accessories are small and young children could swallow those tiny pieces. And finally, the main reason that Barbie dolls are designed for older girls is because of the doll’s mature body, and accompanying accessories that girls at the age of eight most likely know the purpose they are meant for. After the advertisers divided the market into segments, they created advertisements. Semiotic analysis of the Barbie advertisement will help to identify the meaning that the ad is trying to convey. The semiotic analysis is a study of signs that explains the meaning of the objects, images, and texts that are used media sources (Gasher, Skinner, Lorimer, 2012, p.90). The reason of having several dolls in various outfits, with different hair colours and with different ethnicity is to compel the girls to collect as many dolls as possible. By buying a doll from a particular ‘fashionista’ line, the girl identifies herself with that doll. In order to target girls from different ethnic groups and “to represent the vast array of colors, races, ethnicities, and nationalities that make up the real world, Barbie launched first black doll in 1968“(DuCille, 2000, p. 262). However, studies described by DuCille (2000) show that black girls prefer white dolls and this is something that was created by an ideology that Whites are prettier and nicer (DuCille, 2000,p. 267). Barbie dolls allow girls to visualise themselves in the doll image (DuCille, 2000, p. 259). DuCille’s argument is exemplified in the Barbie fashionista ad. The text in the Barbie campaign is meant to grab a girl’s attention and to find the doll that she likes best, one that she would choose to represent herself. The names that are given to each doll describe the style of the doll: “glam”, “cutie”, or “girly”. People who create advertisements know how little girls think. The advertisers assume that after one doll is purchased, girls will later beg their parents for a new doll. A good excuse to buy a new doll might be “I am not a glam girl anymore, I want to be a wild fashionista”. This is an effective strategy. The second accompanying text for the ad says: “Collect all 6”. The text suggests to a girl to not pick a doll that she associates more with her, but also to buy all of the Barbie fashionista dolls. It implies that if a little girl will purchase all 6 different fashionista dolls, she will not have to choose which of them she identifies with, she can be all of them together. The colour that is dominant in this advertising relays a meaning as well. In the case of Barbie, pink is not just a gender signifier associated with girls, but it is also a brand color that catches girl’ attention. Therefore, by using so many pink shades, advertisers expect to draw attention of young girls and to present new Barbie fashionista line. Barbie dolls are often criticized by feminists for the ideology that they promote. Unrealistic proportions of the doll create an ideology about feminine beauty and feminine body. DuCille (2000) claims that toys that children use to play help “to determine what is valuable in and around them” (p.259). Girls who play with Barbie dolls learn that female body, in order to be considered beautiful, must correspond to the proportions of the plastic doll: the hair must be blond, the body should be slim, the breasts are faultless, and the smile should be snow white. Children and young women struggle to achieve the same ‘idealized body image’, which leads to eating disorders, diets, anorexia, and low self-esteem. A man who was interviewed in Roger book (1999) said that an ideal woman should look like Barbie (p.17). This is evidence that Barbie’s body promote the notion of beauty and femininity not only for children and women but also for men. Besides, white Barbie dolls promote European whiteness because most of “the signature dolls featured on billboards, on boxes, in video and board games, on clothing are always blond, blue-eyed, and white” (DuCille, 2000, p.267). This is because European whiteness is considered standard for female beauty. In conclusion, market segmentation helps advertisers to target desired consumers. However, it turns out that, while advertisers target specific audiences such as children, other groups may feel the effect elicited by the product. As we can see, the Barbie dolls that are intended for the children affect how women and men perceive female’s ideal beauty and body. This is a good example of how media influences individuals. People imply that how an object is represented in the media is how this object is actually supposed to be or look like in real life. When children, women and men look at Barbie dolls’ image, they presume that this is the notion of female’s beauty. The ideal female’s body imposed by Barbie dolls lead to children having a false view of women’s body. As a result, women struggle in order to achieve female beauty ideals and men search for a women that will correspond to that idealized femininity image. References Barbie fashionista. [Image]. Retrieved November 15, 2014 from: http://everydaysavvy.com/stackable-barbie-fashionista-coupons-target-sale/ Coulter, N. (2014). From the top drawer to the bottom line: The commodification of childrens cultures. In L. Shade (Ed.), Mediascapes: New patterns in Canadian communication (4th ed., pp. 409 - 423). Toronto: Nelson Education. DuCille, A., & Holt, D. (2000). Toy theory: Black Barbie and the deep play of differences. In J. Schor (Ed.), The consumer society reader (4th ed., pp. 409 - 423). New York: The New Press. Gasher, M., Skinner, D., & Lorimer, R. (2012). Theoretical perspectives on media content. In Mass communication in Canada (7th ed., p. 90, p.110). Don Mills: Oxford University Press. Myamum. (2012, December 24). What age are Barbie dolls suitable for. Retrieved November 17, 2014, from: http://www.essentialkids.com.au/forums/index.php?/topic/1042085-what-age-are-barbie-dolls-suitable-for/ Rogers, M. (1999). Barbie Culture. California: Sage Publications. Read More