A Barbie advert popped up on TV the other day and my first reaction was Barbie has come a long way. Then, as I watched more closely – as I was quite the Barbie aficionado in my time – I realised that Barbie really has come a long way.

Barbie’s new career choices include vet, pizza chef, snowboarder, rock star, ballroom dancer, dentist, kid doctor, baby sitter, ballerina and the best of them – race car driver!

Go Barbie!

Barbie has a new tagline “I can be” and the gist of it is I can be whatever I want to be – meaning Barbie or the little girl’s buying into the Barbie franchise, can be whatever they want to be. I think that’s a great progression for such an old brand and if I had girls, I’d be happy with that.

Barbie’s new career choices still contain some of the girly stuff, but hey, girls will be girls so there’s nothing wrong with that. Let’s face it, the whole fantasy of beauty and glamour appeals to most girls and women, and I don’t think fairy princess values are bad for little girls, but I do appreciate that more options are now being offered.

Well done Mattel and can I make a few more suggestions? How about astronaut, volcano researcher, deep cave explorer, mountaineer, rugby player, swimming champion, golf’s number one female, CEO and celebrity chef?

Yay for Barbiel! It is great to see a positive ‘you go girl’ message coming through.

Yours, without the bollocks
Andrea