Barbie Manifesto Begins

Well, it all started when my daughter said to me one day, "You know, I never had a Barbie".

It never occured to me that she had wanted a Barbie. I never had a Barbie and I never wanted one. I just didn't "get it" about Barbie dolls. So I said, "You never asked for one," and she told me she wanted one even if she didn't ask for one. My daughter at this time was a few years over 30 years old...

Before visiting again, which I would do a few months later I visited a large well-known store and purchased her a Movie Star Barbie. Just to get over the guilt of not ever giving her a Barbie...

So, a few months later (she is in another state) when we saw each other I presented her with the Barbie. Now she had her Barbie, she couldn't say that her mother never gave her one....

As she opened her gift and was looking at the things that came with Movie Star Barbie she saw a small booklet type of thing and with her sharp 30+ year old eyes she saw some very obscure writing hidden on the booklet cover. She read it to me, "Look, it says, 'I lost 20 lbs - so can you'." I didn't believe her so I put on my reading glasses and took it out into the bright sun and sure enough that is exactly what it said. I was not happy. I must have started to carry on about it because she told me that I was ruining her Barbie experience. (Great). We examined all of the other little things that came in the Movie Star Barbie and there was another small booklet that had another subliminal type of message which said something like: Lose 1-5 lbs in 10 days.

So, off I went on a strange and crazy ride for about 6 months. I have saved a lot of the correspondence surrounding all of this story that I call my Barbie Manifesto. I will try to tell the story as completely as possible.

What I am wondering about is if I can name names as I have in calling out "Barbie", do I dare to say store names, the names of people I contacted and what they said, and EEK, what about the makers of Barbie?

More to come.

I just like the photo at the top, it shows an angel carrying some fish...