...this area more closely, you will recognize the iconic name, Barbie, branded across a wide selection of dolls, houses, clothing, cars, and other accessories. Most likely, you will notice a news anchor and a computer engineer Barbie, representing the new Barbie careers of the 2010s. If you were shopping in any other decade since the late 1950s, you would see Barbie dolls with different costumes and careers. Since its inception in 1959, by creator Ruth Handler, the Barbie doll has taken on more than 100 different career paths and has become the most successful doll ever produced. This iconic and often controversial doll has had a great deal of influence on every decade since the late 1950s. From its very inception, Barbie was an innovative fashion doll, whose desirability and influence among girls quickly skyrocketed. It was the first ever adult-bodied doll, equipped with breasts, long legs, and a small waist. Previously, the only dolls for girls were baby or infant dolls that allowed little girls to play mommy. But with Barbie, little girls were soon able to imagine being much more than just mothers or wives, and could play as any career they wanted. The Barbie doll was not simply a fashionable toy, but a role model for individuality and freedom of choice for all females. It broke through gender barriers by teaching girls they could be anything they dreamed. However, the doll received a great deal of outrage and criticism throughout the decades as well. In its early years, people...
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...Christopher D. Huff 6/21/2016 Case 2 MBA 6368 New Heritage Doll Company Capital Budgeting Introduction The Vice President of the New Heritage Doll Company’s product division, Emily Harris, has decided to present two capital budget improvement proposals to the company’s capital budgeting committee in October. The purpose of the proposals is to provide the capital budgeting committee with a sound option that will make a positive impact on future company growth without hindering current operations and maneuverability. The purpose of this case is to decide which proposal is the most qualified proposal based on financial metrics and company goals. New Heritage Doll History and Profits Before evaluating each proposal it is important to understand the company New Heritage Doll and the toy industry itself so that we can make better assumptions for the case. New Heritage was established in 1985 by Ingrid Beckwith. Her vision for the company and those that purchased her products was simply to foster and grow a child’s ability to positively view their image and increase creativity. Her doll’s had an immediate impact on the industry which increased demand for New Heritage Doll products. Currently, the company receives operating profit from three divisions. The production division, the most asset heavy division, designs and produces dolls and doll accessories. In 2009, operation profit for the product division was 7.7 million. The retail division offers products through websites...
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...A DOLL HOUSE A Doll's House is a three act play about a seemingly typical housewife who becomes disillusioned and dissatisfied with her condescending husband. Nora represents the 'doll' in this 'perfect doll house' with decorated Christmas trees and fancy parties. The realization that her life is a sham, she spends her whole life in a dream world. In this dream world, Nora does not take life seriously, an attitude that led to many of the plot’s complications. Nora and Torvald Helmer believe they are happily married and on the brink of a blissful new phase of life. Nora's lie is exposed and Torvald first blames, then forgives her and is finally abandoned as Nora recognizes the truth of her situation. She accuses her husband, and her father before him, of having used her as a doll, and declares herself unfit to be a wife or mother until she has learned to be herself. Nora's position in her own household, as well as Nora's perception of the world. Not only have the men in her life treated her like a "doll", to be dressed up and played with, but she herself has lived as that doll. She has played into the role, and she has always viewed the world from only the perspective of her little house. She is treated like a child and is not taken seriously. She is belittled by Torvald and doesn't listen to her feelings, wants, and desires. In Nora world she takes a back seat approach to life and becomes like an object, reacting to other’s expectations rather than advancing herself....
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...of its time. In this play Ibsen tackles women's rights as a matter of importance. Throughout this time period it was neglected. A Doll's House was written during the movement of Naturalism, which commonly reflected society. Ibsen acknowledges the fact that in 19th century life the role of the woman was to stay at home, raise the children and attend to her husband. Nora Helmer is the character in A Doll House who plays the 19th woman and is portrayed as a victim. Michael Meyers said of Henrik Ibsen's plays: "The common denominator in many of Ibsen's dramas is his interest in individuals struggling for and authentic identity in the face of tyrannical social conventions. This conflict often results in his characters' being divided between a sense of duty to themselves and their responsibility to others."(1563) All of the aspects of this quote can be applied to the play A Doll House, in Nora Helmer's character, who throughout much of the play is oppressed, presents an inauthentic identity to the audience and throughout the play attempts to discovery her authentic identity. The inferior role of Nora is extremely important to her character. Nora is oppressed by a variety of "tyrannical social conventions." Ibsen in his "A Doll's House" depicts the role of women as subordinate in order to emphasize their role in society. Nora is oppressed by the manipulation from Torvald. Torvald has a very typical relationship with society. He is a smug bank manager. With his job arrive many responsibilities...
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...tribe. The artifact I chose is a cornhusk doll. I chose this artifact because it looked very creative yet original. The Iroquois Native Americans are a confederacy meaning a group or association of people in Northeastern United States originally formed from the Oneida, Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Tuscarora. I chose the tribe the Oneida tribe. The Oneida tribe was actually the league of clans in their own language. They are in Upstate New York, exactly near the Great Lakes. Many of the people in the Oneida tribe serve in the military. Their tribe name comes from word for themselves, which means "people oft eh standing stone”. Their tribe originally lived in New York State, but many...
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...one has to look at a Venus de Willendorf Doll, the first thing that would be noticed is the size of the woman. The woman is robust and is without clothing or a face; this doll was made like this to show how little the importance of physical appearance was back then, when everyone was striving for survival. These dolls are not just pieces of art but they represent the history of women before our time, and they reveal to the modern society that the things which are important to us like appearance, fame, and fortune actually do not matter; but that the important thing is to protect one’s family and survive against all odds. Now- a-days it is the complete opposite. Instead of dolls that look like the Venus de Willendorf Doll, we have Barbie Dolls. The problem with this is the fact that Barbie Dolls have created a lot of problems for children. Barbie Dolls infused in young girls unrealistic expectations for life; it made girls think they had to look, live, and act in a certain way which is acceptable to the society. Barbie Dolls were made to be teen fashion dolls but little did the manufacturers know that they would change the society forever. Barbie Dolls changed society in many ways. First of all, it infused in the minds of young girls unrealistic expectations about what they were supposed to look like further in life. Instead of modeling the dolls as representation of actual people the makers made them superficial. The reason Barbie Dolls instigated such unrealistic expectations...
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...with the Polly Pocket doll for his daughter. Mattel and Bluebird developed his idea into a very popular toy line. Polly is a small doll--approximately 3 and 3/4 inch tall. She is plastic with jointed legs and arms. She comes with all sorts of miniature accessories and playsets to spark a child's imagination. But, it was the clothes that did me in. Polly Pocket is a line of miniature toy dolls and dollhouses that many little girls find intriguing. When planning a Polly Pocket social event or birthday party for a girl, you can create a few activities to keep the girls entertained. Activities and games give the girls a chance to win or make their own Polly Pocket creations to take home as a memento of the gathering. 1. Activities o Hide several Polly Pocket accessories, clothes, pets and toys around the play area. Give each guest a plastic Polly Pocket-themed bag and have her hunt for the items. After the players find all of the items, give each one a small Polly Pocket doll to go with all her accessories from the hunt. For an added bonus, have the girls count their accessories. Award a large Polly Pocket doll to the girl who finds the most accessories. For another activity, divide the girls into two teams. Have the teams take turns hiding the Polly Pocket accessories or dolls in a room. See how many each team can find in two minutes. Crafts o Help the children make Polly Pocket bracelets. Give the girls a large bowl of miniature Polly Pocket dolls, pink craft wire and...
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...4212 SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 TIMOTHY LUEHRMAN HEIDE ABELLI New Heritage Doll Company: Capital Budgeting In mid-September of 2010, Emily Harris, vice president of New Heritage Doll Company’s production division, was weighing project proposals for the company’s upcoming capital budgeting meetings in October. Two proposals stood out based on their potential to strengthen the division’s innovative product lines and drive future growth. However, due to constraints on financial and managerial resources, Harris knew it was possible that the firm’s capital budgeting committee would decline to approve both projects. She also knew that New Heritage’s licensing and retail divisions would promote compelling projects of their own. Consequently, Harris had to be prepared to recommend one of her projects over the other. The Doll Industry Revenues in the U.S. toy and game industry totaled $42 billion in 2008 and were projected to increase by 4.6% per year to $52.5 billion by 2013. The market was divided into two broad segments: video games (48%) and traditional toys and games (52%). The second segment was further divided into infant/preschool toys (14.5%), dolls (14.1%), outdoor & sports toys (12.3%), and other toys & games (59.1%) including arts and crafts, plush toys, action figures, vehicles, and youth electronics. The U.S. market for toys and games was dominated by large global enterprises that enjoyed economies of scale in design, production, and distribution. Revenues...
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...Feminist, That is the Question... A Doll House depicts the very meaning of feminism. Ibsen does a unique yet amazing job of displaying the feminist discrimination performed by the male race. According to Webster’s Online Dictionary, the definition of feminism is: the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes; organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests. Although it has been reported that Ibsen stated he never intentionally wrote A Doll House as a feminist play, the text suggests otherwise. Ibsen writes A Doll House in a way that makes it seem as if he feels men are superior to women by using “pet names,” and other sexual comments. Ibsen uses this form of writing as a way to bring attention to readers that this type of mind set is unacceptable. Although it may seem that Ibsen is discriminating against women he is rather promoting gender equality by illustrating the ridiculousness of this issue by sort of mocking the reality of it. A Doll House is a feminist play because it expresses the importance of equality in both sexes in public and private life and demands the removal of restrictions on females to achieve such equality. One way Torvald attempts to gain control over Nora is the use of nicknames, notably of smaller, inferior animals. These such nicknames include, “Squirrel, silly girl, and skylark.” (857). Nora becomes extremely smart and begins to use Torvald’s use of pet names to her advantage. She sort of teases Torvlad...
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...Globalization Versus Normative Policy: A Case Study on the Failure of the Barbie Doll in the Indian Market Priti Nemani* INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 97 I. GLOBALIZATION AND THE MULTINATIONAL ........................................ 99 A. Globalization Defined ................................................................ 99 1. The Key to the Kingdom: The Globalized Brand ............. 100 B. Barbie in the Global Economy ................................................. 102 1. Barbie‘s History................................................................. 102 2. Corporate Philosophy and Marketing Strategies behind Barbie ................................................................................ 105 II. MATTEL‘S BUSINESS VENTURES IN INDIA ......................................... 107 A. The Late 1980s: Barbie’s Tango with the License Raj ............. 107 1. The Licensing System ....................................................... 109 2. Limits on Foreign Direct Investment .................................110 3. Mattel‘s Joint Venture ......................................................... 111 B. India’s Economic Liberalization and Mattel’s Second Chance at Success...................................................................................113 1. India, the IMF, and the World Bank ...................................113 2. Mattel in India from 1993-2010 ...............................
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...Barbie has recently had her 40th birthday. It all started in the 1950s when Ruth Handler saw her daughter, Barbara, and her friends playing with paper dolls. They liked to imagin the dolls beeing different persons who were working, swiming, playing with friends etc. Ruth, who owned the company Mattel with her husband, understood that pretending how the future would be was part of growing up for kids. She did some research and found that there was room on the market for a doll like Barbie. Mattel had been making lots of toys before Barbie but when Ruth said that she wanted them to make a small doll for kids all the men in the staff had their doubts. Many different designs were done before the first Barbie was introduced on the 9th of march 1959. Barbie was named after Ruths daughter. Barbie was then a teen-age fashion model who was very different to the dolls the kids played with at that time. The buyers were at first skeptical to the doll but when Mattel started to make tv-commercials to reach out to the buyers it was an instant hit. Barbie is still the most popular fashion doll ever created. That is because she is always changing when the fashion and trends change. She wears everything from the Paris fashion to the more youthful look. For example the creaters changed her when the Beatles were popular and they made a copy of Jackie Kennedy when she was popular. In the 1970s Barbie wore very different clothes just to be trendy. She for example wore glittery disco outfits and...
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...IBUS 402:002 Discovering the needs of your target segment is essential when developing a new product. Surveys and questionnaires would be the easiest way to go about discovering the needs of American parents and kids who might like this doll. E-mailing these forms would be easiest; although, in person you can choose your candidates better. Another possibility would be to research the most popular dolls sold to American parents and compare the similarities and differences from those dolls to this particular doll. Market testing would probably be the most efficient and conclusive way to discover your segment’s needs. Market testing is important because as Hornor states “everyone thinks their idea or product is perfect, so you need to test it with real potential customers so they can either tell you it is wonderful or open your eyes to potential issues with your product.” The biggest issue Americans have reported about their feelings towards toys manufactured in China, and sold in the U.S., is that they are unsafe and dangerous for their kids. These issues have come up because many toy manufacturing companies have had serious public issues. Mattel, the largest toy manufacturer, had to recall over 19 million toys. About half of those toys were distributed in the United States, and all were manufactured in China. (Story and Barboza) These toys were recalled because of problems such as small amounts of lead, which can be extremely harmful to kids. “According to the US Consumer...
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...Mattel had discovered extraordinary accomplishment in their offers of the immortal Barbie doll and her extras, and because of this achievement, they saw no compelling reason to modify her in any capacity. The certainty was that they were truly reluctant to adjust her on the grounds that by doing so may detract from the moms and grandmas who might keep on purchasing her for their kids and grandchildren. Numerous dolls had attempted to rival Barbie before, yet none could make the grade regarding the enormous presence and history that Barbie spoke to, until MGA introduced the Bratz doll line. These dolls spoke to everything that young ladies loved on TV. They had the hair, the cosmetics, the garments, the shoes (that were not as simple to lose as Barbie's since the...
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...A Doll’s House – Being More Than Just A Doll June 15, 2015 Dr. Ozichi Alimole A Doll’s House – Being More Than Just A Doll In A Doll’s House, Ibsen uses many literary conventions such as realism and symbolism to convey his message about marital inequality and the rights of individuals. His play is powerful, requiring imagination on the part of both the author and reader to experience wholly. Additionally he very effectively shows the conservative way in which women were treated and expected to behave, as well as the consequences for standing alone or taking action. In addition to feeling that Mr. Ibsen’s depiction of marriage in 1870’s Norway was likely very relatable for women I also agreed with a description of A Doll’s House in his biography where it says: This 1879 play set tongues a-wagging throughout Europe for exploration of Nora's struggle with the traditional roles of wife and mother and her own need for self-exploration. Once again, Ibsen had questioned the accepted social practices of the times, surprising his audiences and stirring up debate. (“Ibsen,” n.d., para. 9) He uses realism in delivering his ideas as evidenced by the fact that there are limited numbers of similes and a dearth of flowery language, and in capturing a subject that is accepted as an every day norm ("Realism," n.d., para. 4). The effect this has is to cast a fairly strict tone, one free from enhancement with a very matter of fact representation. The strong social criticism issued...
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...“Her good nature wore out/ like a fan belt./ So she cut off her nose and her legs/ and offered them up.” This quote from “Barbie Doll”, by Marge Piercy, refers to a young girl who wishes to change her character and her appearance in order to live up to society’s expectations. In fact, instead of being complimented or admired for whom she truly is, people would rather criticize and condemn her for whom she isn’t. As a result of endlessly trying to alter her portrait, the “girlchild” eventually “wore herself out”. This poem suggests that unrealistic societal demands are destructive for a woman’s self-esteem and well-being. When comparing oneself to an idealistic notion of female beauty and behaviour, one can only expect to feel demoralized, discouraged and devalued. Indeed, "Barbie Doll," the title of the poem, symbolizes society’s view of a perfect woman; the way society expects every woman to be. In fact, by using “Barbie Doll” as the title to her poem, Marge Piercy wants the reader to compare and contrast the adolescent’s appearance to that of a Barbie doll. Stereotypically, Mattel’s Barbie dolls have tall, thin yet curvy bodies, with symmetrical, perfect facial features, blonde hair and blue eyes. This, in turn, leads to the protagonist’s void of self-confidence. Additionally, living up to such standards - all the while being a housewife who must clean the house, raise the children and please her husband - is very demanding on the female gender. Moreover, the doll is symbolic...
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