barbie

Barbie, a kitsch throwback? At least she wears it on her sleeve

© Rex/Shutterstock ‘Modern Barbie is over-ironised, perhaps, but after almost 60 years in production, she has the one thing her rivals still lack.’

There is a lot of excitement over the release, later this year, of the sequel to Frozen, but in my house, greater anticipation is reserved for the Barbie live action movie, due out in 2020, with Margot Robbie in the title role. For the last few years Mattel, Barbie’s makers, have been fighting competition from more modern Disney heroines, and the movie – in which Barbie is, reportedly, expelled from Barbie world for not being perfect enough – is part of the brand’s attempt at a feminist rejigging.

I was never big into Barbie as a child. She and Ken seemed underpowered compared with my gang of hulking great Sindy dolls and their single beau, Action Man, with his weird felt hair and khaki jeep and switch at the back of his head that actually made his eyes swivel. Sindy has no presence in America, however, and among my daughters’ fourth birthday presents were palaeontologist Barbie and scientist Barbie. They are also committed to a seven-season Barbie animation on Netflix called Life in the Dreamhouse.

It is curious to watch a brand associated to the level of archetype with its reductive representation of women try to resell itself as progressive – although Barbie has always had a certain amount of feminist window-dressing. In the 1960s, apparently, there was an astronaut Barbie and a surgeon Barbie, although of course they both looked identical to fashion-horse Barbie. Now, after years of Barbie’s proportions being mocked and criticised, there is the option of a “curvy Barbie”, introduced in 2016 along with tall and petite Barbie, and with a fuller figure than the norm. (As my kids recently discovered, skinny Barbie’s clothes don’t fit over curvy Barbie’s bum). Some Barbies have glasses. Last week, Mattel introduced a Barbie in a wheelchair.

Related: Barbie's turning 60 – in pictures

The tone of Life in the Dreamhouse, meanwhile, is arch, a sort of italicised horror-show in which Ken is a lovable idiot, Barbie is generous and kind and her rival, Rockelle, is a conniving mean girl, forever getting her comeuppance by falling into fountains or having vats of cake frosting spill on her dress. The show winks at the adults watching – don’t worry, we know the very idea of Barbie is ridiculous! – while selling to the kids a world in which girls scream and kvetch and throw wardrobe-related fits and demand that everything in their life come in pink. It is Girl World to the extent that the Barbie mansion is entirely self-governing, but all they do with their power is fight over who is the cutest.

Oddly, however, I find the kitsch style of Life in the Dreamhouse, and the Barbie range more generally, preferable to the strained sincerity of Frozen with its tedious life lessons. Elsa and her fellow Disney princesses come with you-go-girl messaging as standard, but the vehicle for this message is, as it always was, a figurine with a tiny waist, plunging cleavage and huge eyes, which in doll form looks unavoidably porny. Modern Barbie is over-ironised, perhaps, but after almost 60 years in production, she has the one thing her rivals still lack; a degree of self-awareness that amounts almost to charm.

• Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist

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Mattel forecasts a year of flat sales despite growth in Barbie and Hot Wheels

Mattel Inc. showcased its biggest names and partnerships at Toy Fair 2019 in New York City, hoping to capitalize on big names like Barbie and Hot Wheels, but is only forecasting flat gross sales for 2019, after factoring currency fluctuations.

Mattel’s MAT, +0.14%   portfolio of superstar names in the toy space includes Barbie, which turns 60 this year, Hot Wheels, and Fisher-Price.

The company also has toys with pop-culture credentials based on franchises like World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. WWE, +0.07%  , DC Comics characters like Batman, and Walt Disney Inc.’s DIS, +0.84%   Toy Story, which has another film coming this year.

Recently, Mattel has unveiled a number of projects for the coming year, including dolls based on the blockbuster boy band BTS, a Barbie movie starring Oscar nominee Margot Robbie, a Hot Wheels movie, and 22 television shows.

Read: Toys ‘R’ Us liquidaton has lingering impact on both Mattel and Hasbro

“In the mid-to-long term, we’re looking to capture the full value of our IP through franchise management and the development of our online retail and e-commerce capabilities,” said Chief Executive Ynon Kreiz during an analyst meeting on Friday, according to a FactSet transcript. Mattel executives gave their remarks as this year’s Toy Fair kicked off.

“With the creation of Mattel Films, Mattel Television and our global franchise management organization, we are targeting opportunities to develop our IP and extend our iconic franchises across film, television, digital gaming, live events, music and computer product and merchandise.”

Despite the upbeat talk, the company guided for gross sales this year that would be the same as 2018. The news sent shares spiraling downward on Friday afternoon, only a week after the stock surged on better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and revenue.

See: Mattel boomerangs to its worst stock loss in more than 20 years

“This year, we expect continued growth in Barbie and Hot Wheels though not at the same extent of 2018 levels and the stabilization of Fisher-Price by the end of the year,” said Joseph Euteneuer, chief financial officer at Mattel, during the analyst event. “This will be offset by a decelerated decline in Thomas [& Friends] and continued declines in American Girl as we execute our strategy, which includes the rationalization of our retail footprint to improve profitability.”

This year will also include the relaunch of the Polly Pocket toy, and the timing of entertainment releases compared with those in 2018, he said.

D.A. Davidson called the guidance “jaw-dropping.”

“We believe management is focused on beating expectations each quarter to build credibility, and our analysis indicates the Ebitda [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] guidance could be conservative,” analysts led by Linda Bolton Weiser wrote in a Tuesday note.

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D.A. Davidson rates Mattel shares neutral with a 12-to-18-month price target of $12.25, down from $14.

“We have long maintained that fixing top line growth versus cutting costs remains the more challenging aspect of the Mattel turnaround story,” wrote UBS analysts led by Arpine Kocharyan.

“While we agree that Mattel remains the owners of the most concentrated portfolio of evergreen toy brands, content monetization, especially through film could be challenging for Mattel in the near-term given balance sheet constraints.”

And while the interest in films is “encouraging,” UBS notes there are no specifics just yet.

UBS rates Mattel shares neutral with a $15 price target.

Mattel shares closed on Tuesday up 1.4% but are down 18.6% over the last year. The S&P 500 index SPX, +0.64%   is up 2.5% for the past 12 months.