Sunday, September 13, 2009

Mattel superverts "Barbie Girl"

Logically speaking 'supervert' would be the opposite of 'subvert', and Mattel is a master at it.

Do you remember the song "Barbie Girl" by Aqua?

Do you remember how Mattel tried very hard to sue for copyright infringement (and failed because the song is a parody and so "fair use").

And yet today, over ten years later, I saw a TV advertisement for a barbie doll with hair you can style that used the distinctive hook from the song.

And that's not all, look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u-bWHFDf6M

I guess money always wins in the end?

See also:
Barbie Girl embraced by Mattel
Years Later, Mattel Embraces ‘Barbie Girl’

7 comments:

David Tulloch said...

Even though the Mattel version was washed clean of innuendo, in my head I could only hear the original lyrics ... which made the whole thing very uncomfortable.

The Barbie tattoos emulating "high-profile stars" like Amy Winehouse were almost as frightening.

Power Nubby - raising money for handicapped pets said...

woah.. creepy dancing barbies. None the less.. i am sure that Aqua got paid BIG BUCKS for this stupid little thing, ad personally, i think that means that in the end, AQUA won

Think about it.. At first, Mattel wanted to sue (possibly for money) the band.. Then in the end, Mattel had to come back on hands and knees asking for that song because no one there at mattel could have come up with anything nearly as catchy.

So you see, its capitalism at its absolute best. The little guy wins by putting a big fat check in the bank.

Mia Dela Cruz-Soriano said...

never liked the song, even then.

i think its sad that Mattel, the giant that it is, cannot stir its creators to come up with something original and true for their product.

a big "tsk! tsk! tsk!" if you ask me.

p.s. yeah, the dancing barbies were scary!

A. of A Changing Life said...

I found it grotesque! And I would think so many people would know the original words - probably not even notice they'd been sanitised.

Gargantua said...

"Do the Barbie?" Oh, that sounds so bad! Regardless, I seriously doubt the "Barbie" dance will ever be as popular as the Macarena.

David Tulloch said...

Actually, the song is a thinly disguised anti-evolution song!!

I'm a Barbie girl in the Barbie world
Life in plastic, it's fantastic
You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere
Imagination, life is your creation.

So Mattel is merely using the song to promote its extreme right-wing agenda.

Anonymous said...

LMAO! My son liked the you tube song haha. I liked the origanal, it was catchy...I would slap myself today thoguh if I caught myself singing it in public haha.