Fashion versus fitspo: The effect of viewing images of contemporary Barbie® dolls in passive versus active poses on college women’s body image and affect

“He is just Ken:” deconstructing hegemonic masculinity in Barbie (2023 Movie)

“…These initiatives involved the creation of dolls designed to embrace a diverse range of body images which also appear in the movie. However, studies subsequent to M2M investigated how exaggerated features, such as those seen in Barbie and Ken dolls, can influence expectations and perceptions of weight (Saccone and Chouinard, 2019) or how levels of body appreciation are influenced by Barbie play in comparison to Lego Friends play sets (Webb et al, 2023).…”

Perspective: Barbie: Food for the Soul or Fanciful Nostalgia?

“…Diving deeper into Barbie’s impact on body image, her perfect figure has been criticized as a model for Thinspiration so much that in 2016, in addition to debuting Curvy Barbie®, Mattel created Made to Move® dolls designed to encourage more active play among children [ 10 , 11 ]. Instead of “Thinspiration,” the goal of these dolls was more “Fitspiration” [ 10 ].…”

“…Diving deeper into Barbie’s impact on body image, her perfect figure has been criticized as a model for Thinspiration so much that in 2016, in addition to debuting Curvy Barbie®, Mattel created Made to Move® dolls designed to encourage more active play among children [ 10 , 11 ]. Instead of “Thinspiration,” the goal of these dolls was more “Fitspiration” [ 10 ]. In addition to social comparison theory, objectification theory and sociocultural theory (the Tripartite Influence Model) were also invoked, noting that traditional or stereotypical Barbie personified a sexualized, appearance-potent, aspirational image that promoted unrealistic body proportions while undermining girls’ and women’s body image and self-esteem [ 3 , [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] ].…”

“…Instead of “Thinspiration,” the goal of these dolls was more “Fitspiration” [ 10 ]. In addition to social comparison theory, objectification theory and sociocultural theory (the Tripartite Influence Model) were also invoked, noting that traditional or stereotypical Barbie personified a sexualized, appearance-potent, aspirational image that promoted unrealistic body proportions while undermining girls’ and women’s body image and self-esteem [ 3 , [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] ]. The advent of Made to Move Barbie coincided with a Fitspiration movement on social media, which failed in its intention of getting young people to move, instead augmenting the ideal of the skinny White athlete, resulting in increased drive for weight loss, disordered eating and lower self-esteem for girls and women of color and with curvaceous figures [ 10 , [14] , [15] , [16] ].…”

“…In a recent study of 106 college women, Webb et al. [ 10 ] compared passive viewing of Barbie Fashionista dolls compared with Barbie Made to Move dolls compared with images of Lego Friends. Again, Barbie’s impact on self-esteem and body love was subtly subversive, even when she was supposed to be championing fitness.…”