Barbie Manifesto Nears Completion

Above are the messages I found inside the packages.


How could they just ignore my concerns? Were they evil? One day I decided to go straight to the top of the company. On February 9, 2004 I mailed my letter of complaint stating on one page my complaint and that someone must be held accountable (I don't know where I put that letter or I would bore you with that too). It was mailed certified and registered and everything else I could do with it to assure myself that it was received. I addressed it to: Mr. R. Eckert, C.E.O., Mattel, etc., etc. I enclosed the blown up images with the messages also ~ for their convenience of course.


There! I could honestly say that I had done all that I could.


It felt pretty good to be finished, I was weary. I have skipped a lot of the little daily things I did; so repetitive and boring....One person told me that going to war like this was like firing a cannon across a wall and hoping that it hit but I might never see the result. Ha - what was he thinking? I wasn't about to quit after shooting cannons.

I learned some valuable lessons in my Crusade to make it right, the kind we all have to learn by ourselves. And it doesn't have to do with fighting Corporate American greed. It has more to do with righteous indignation and how to give it up.

In March I heard back.

Will The Barbie Manifesto End?

Tile from the kiln unloaded on June 6th, 2007.

Good friends are hard to find. My mother told me when I was a girl that she could count her good friends on one hand. I am not sure that she said good friends or just friends. If a friend isn't a good one then I suppose they are just a close acquaintance.

The point is that a friend asked me when I was going to be done with the Barbie Manifesto and I think I frowned, I asked her what did she mean, "Done with it"? You know, "DONE WITH IT" is what she meant. "Oh, well, in a week or so I thought." I think she said, "I see, then you are DONE WITH it?" Only she didn't yell. So, of course I have been thinking about being done. The energy I used up on my crusade was not a total waste of energy although I did put quite a bit of angst into it, and re-telling the story could also do that so I resolve to be done with it and be done with it for good. Well, I am going to try.

The woman I talked about earlier; Jean Kilbourne was interested and she asked me to fax to her the images of the weight loss books I found in the Barbie package. She was appalled and advised me that I could possibly enlist support from some of the groups that advise on eating disorders. Well, I sure did that and they too were appalled and said I should contact so and so or this other person. So what happened over and over again was that the people that were appalled were appalled but I didn't find anyone willing to say that they were going to join my crusade. I told everyone I could think of about this message in the Movie Star Barbie doll packages, I made copies of the little books, I enlarged them so that others with eyes like mine could also see the subliminal words. When I didn't show my proof people started to treat me like I was just imagining things; maybe they even avoided me, it was getting there.

Shall I take a photo of the enlarged image and show it on this blog of mine? You see, I also went through a stage of paranoia during this and I really don't want that back. It was a horrid and terrifying thing to experience.

I have been told that Einstein said that 'Insanity is the act of doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results'. So if he is right and I think he is...why do that?

Maybe Men Didn't Get It!

This morning I unloaded my kiln, this is one of my handpainted tiles.

I now return to My Barbie Manifesto.

I have been given hope by NBC in San Jose; they called me and we set up an appointment for someone to come to interview me. A man with a camera came to the house to ask me some questions about the whole situation. He took pictures of the Movie Star Barbie books and under his camera the messages really popped out, he let me look through the lens but not touch the camera. One thing he asked me was something like...."And what is so wrong with this?" Well, I felt like a deer in the headlights - just stunned; didn't everyone see it my way? Later I thought that maybe men didn't understand what was going on here and that is why he would ask such a silly question. Maybe men didn't get it. Ultimately they did nothing with the story, the last I heard they were out looking for a Movie Star Barbie of their own. I emailed them asking them once more if they were going to do anything with the information but I never heard back....

From the Manifesto Archives

I took this picture of this tree-cactus, does anyone know the name of it?

On the road to Caliente Nevada. Been there, done that...

I used the power of cyberspace and contacted Oprah, Dr. Phil, some local PBS stations,NBC in San Jose, the journalism department of a nearby University, some feminist activists and, the list goes on. I do not have it all in a neat and tidy order, the events happened in overlapping and a haphazard way.

Here is what I got from some of them:

Your message
To: fm
Subject: Barbie
Sent: Sun, 11 Jan 2004 09:40:26 -0800
was read on Mon, 12 Jan 2004 10:52:15 -0800
***

Here is a hopeful reply from NBC in San Jose, CA.:
SHEILA,

WHAT IS YOUR PHONE NUMBER SO WE CAN CALL YOU?

THANKS,

JOHN Z
NBC 11 SAN JOSE
BUREAU CHIEF
-----Original Message-----From: Sheila Loggan [mailto:***********
Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 2:41 PMTo: news@nbc11.comSubject: Barbie Doll
Hi, I am trying to find someone that cares about this: I bought a Barbie doll and inside the package was a little pink book with Barbie image and it says Mattel 2003; ON the book is the subliminal message "Lose 10 lbs in 10 days" and "I lost 20 lbs and you can too". Mattel is not responding to my complaint. I have notified the store where I purchased the Barbie to advise them of the product they are selling. I am a small fish and feel I need help with this. Does anyone out there care???? Sincerely, Sheila ******

NBC11 seemed to be the only ones that cared and they did come through and give me hope, I will go into more detail on that later.
***

Dear sheila,
Thank you for your e-mail. Your message is important to us, and we will certainly read it. However, due to the volume of e-mail messages we receive every day, we cannot guarantee that you'll receive a personal response. Feel free to check out our Frequently Asked Questions for additional information.
http://www.drphil.com/show/show_faq.jhtml
Thanks again for writing to us, and for your interest in the show!
Sincerely,
The Dr. Phil Staff
www.DrPhil.com
***

Dear sheila,
Thank you for your e-mail! Your message is important to us. Unfortunately, due to the volume of e-mail messages we receive every day, we cannot guarantee that you'll receive a personal response. Feel free to check out our Frequently Asked Questions for additional help.
http://www.oprah.com/tows/program/tows_prog_main.jhtml
Thanks again for writing to us!
Sincerely,
The Oprah.com Staff
www.oprah.com
***
Dear Sheila, Thanks for your message. Can you describe the subliminal advertising in the dolls to me? Is there any way to prove it? Best wishes, Jean Kilbourne
This other email came through also:
Thanks, Sheila. Please do fax me a copy (***-***-****). Was the ad for a specific product? Best, Jean
***
If anyone wants to find out more about Jean Kilbourne and the work she does, this is from a Google search:
Jean Kilbourne Killing Us Softly Can't Buy My Love How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel Women and Advertising Alcohol
Advertising.www.jeankilbourne.com/

I was starting to wake up at night and think about the whole Barbie scene and why was I the only one that was willing to fight Corporate America? I did not have a problem with Barbie dolls, I never did, I simply never understood them. My issue was not with the doll, the doll is a piece of plastic. What in the world was Mattel thinking? I wondered if maybe they had a vested interest in weight loss products or what....I wondered about a LOT of things wide awake at 3 a.m.

More Barbie Manifesto

This is another one of my fish! Unfortunately I am not the kind of potter

that documents everything - or anything for that matter so

I don't know how I got this woo-woo metallic green glaze...

Well, I have delivered my message to two stores and wow, do I feel crabby. I sense that this may be harder than I thought. I assumed that people would hear my story and jump on my bandwagon....

Wait, wait, I forgot**************************


During one of my phone calls to Mattel one of the people told me that the "little books" that I was describing were not Barbie products and must have been pushed into the package. How do I deal with that???? I did then say that they had someone sabotaging their Barbie product and it should be corrected.

At some point I call Target and they handed me off to various people not knowing what to do with my complaint. So, I emailed them eventually. Since it is my email I guess I can put it in my blog... this is a response that I got from Target on 22 January 2004:

Dear Sheila,Thank you for your e-mail regarding the packaging for the Barbie yourpurchased at Target. Allow me to apologize for the delayed response. Yourpatience is appreciated. At Target we are always looking for ways to make the Target experiencebetter for every guest. I apologize for the situation you described andappreciate the time you have taken to contact our office. In order to fully research this issue for you and respond to your concerns,I do need some additional information. Please provide the 12-digit UPC number from the Barbie package or if youhave your receipt you can also find a 9-digit item number listed there.Also, if you can provide all of the details of this "subliminal message" sowe can fully understand your concern. I look forward to hearing from you soon and thank you for being a valuedTarget guest.Sincerely,Janine OTarget Guest Relationswww.target.com

and here is my response to JanineO at Target:

Dear Janine O, Thank you for your reply. I gave the Barbie as a gift before Thanksgiving so I cannot supply the box with the UPC or the receipt. I wish I could. The message was in a Movie Star Barbie on a little "book" (2 of them actually). In very small digital type printing one book said "Lose 10 lbs in 10 days" The other "book" also said "I lost 20 lbs and so can you". I bought two Barbies, one in the Bay Area at Serramonte Target and the other at a request of my 4 yr old granddaughter, hers I bought in Las Vegas. I hope this helps you. If you would like to see what I am talking about I can fax the image to you. I have the "books" here at my home. Thanks again. Sincerely, Sheila





I thought that this was a dead end and it was but Janine did respond sometime later with this nice email:

Dear Sheila,
Thank you for your e-mail providing additional information regarding the Barbie you purchased at Target.
We take pride in our products and strive to ensure that all the merchandise sold in our stores meets Target expectations for quality and outstanding value. We appreciate the time you have taken to personally bring this matter to our attention. I apologize that the product you purchased has disappointed you. Your comments and concerns with this item will be made available to our buyers for further review with the manufacturer.
I encourage you to write or call if you have future questions or concerns about the products or services at Target. We do value you as our guest and thank you again for making us aware of this matter.
Sincerely,
Janine O
Target Guest Relations
www.target.com





So much for Target, I had done what I could there; time to move on.
Did I mention that this was starting to become a Crusade?

My Barbie Manifesto Continued

I made this fish last year, the glaze is called Floating Blue,

it is a very reliable cone 5 glaze and is one of my favorites.

I stopped "ruining my daughter's Barbie experience" and when my grandaughter walked in and saw the Barbie, her eyes lit up and she wanted one too. She asked me if I would buy her one too, so....I told her that of course I would buy her a Barbie. No sense being both a bad mother AND grandmother....

Off we went to Target to buy a Barbie, I wanted to get the same one and I did. I told my daughter that if it had the same messages inside that she should take them out and save them for me. This Barbie was going to be a Christmas gift.

When Christmas came and went I asked about the Movie Star Barbie and sure enough it had the same subliminal message on the little books found inside. She mailed them to me. Here I now had my proof and something to work with.......

My first call was to Mattel; I had a complaint. The customer service person on the other end was polite and told me I should talk to someone in a different department. I can't remember what department - product development or something. I spent a while on the phone getting nowhere at Mattel. I told them that they were putting inappropriate message inside of Barie packages and I wanted to know if this was a standard practice. ...huh?...

My next step was to go to Target. I went there and told them my story about the subliminal weight loss messages in the Barbie packages. The manager was quite kind but couldn't help me. I said I wanted someone to be aware that the Barbies they sold had weight loss messages in them and that it simply wasn't acceptable to give this message to little girls. She suggested that I contact corporate headquarters on the phone or by email.

THEN I went to Toys R Us. Now, I didn't buy the doll there but I knew they sold Barbies (see the madness beginning?). This is where the crazy-lady looks began also. I repeated the bad Barbie messages being sold in the boxes meant for little girls and on and on....

It was a cold and rainy day and I delivered my message to those 2 retailers that might or might not have cared.

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...

The Barbie Manifesto

I am suddenly a blog expert since I have now posted twice.

What caught my attention about many blogs was the way people seem to have some kind of message they want to deliver to the world. Or maybe they just need to write it down to process it, I don't know. Gee, I don't have any great, huge convinctions that I must let the world know about, or do I? What happened was that I started thinking about my Barbie Manifesto that I started a while back and how it affected me while I made it, and what I learned from it....

The Barbie Manifesto Story is a long one, I need to decide how to tell it.

***********************************************************

I do make more than fish and this is just a small ceramic vessel I made one day. It has four sides and it has a square opening in the top, I didn't glaze the feet or the bottom. The glaze is very thin and matte.