Plastic Surgery for Barbie App Removed After Outrage Over Sexism

[roseofbattle]

Plastic Surgery for Barbie App Removed After Outrage Over Sexism

An unofficial Barbie game about plastic surgery was marketed to children and taken down after Twitter protests.

Apple and Google removed two similar games about plastic surgery in which children are encouraged to "fix" a patient through liposuction from the iTunes App Store and Google Play. Twitter users launched a campaign on Jan. 14 to bring awareness of and call for the removal of Plastic Surgery & Plastic Doctor & Plastic Hospital Office for Barbie and Plastic Surgery because of the game's harmful messaging and marketing to young girls.

Pulled from the iTunes App store and Google Play on Jan. 14, Plastic Surgery for Barbie's description reads, "This unfortunate girl has so much extra weight that no diet can help her. In our clinic she can go through a surgery called liposuction that will make her slim and beautiful. We'll need to make small cuts on problem areas and suck out the extra fat. Will you operate her, doctor?" The game is marketed to players at least nine years old and uses the familiar presence of Barbie to entice young girls to play the free app.

A similar game pulled had a similar description but instead uses a character named Barbara, depicted like Mattel's Barbie, who "likes to eat a lot of burgers and chocolates and once she found that she looks ugly." The plastic surgeon will "make operation on her body and face in order to return cute Barbara's look."

pictures [http://www.everydaysexism.com/] of the apps, asking Apple and Google to remove them. Both were removed.

A Google spokesman said the company does not comment on individual apps, "but will remove apps that breach our guidelines." Apple has not issued a statement.

The former president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons told the BBC the games' rhetoric is damaging to women. "This app blatantly and shamelessly uses child-friendly brand names to target young, vulnerable children and exposes them to sexist and disturbing rhetoric as the 'game' critiques the body of a cartoon character who does not conform to an unrealistic beauty standard," he said. "That Apple or Google could condone this disgraceful app as a game suitable for children is no less than sickening."

Toy manufacturer Mattel issued a statement, distancing itself from Plastic Surgery for Barbie, which did not have authorization to use Barbie's branding. "This app has since been removed from iTunes," Mattel stated. "At Mattel, we take our commitment to children seriously and work hard to ensure there are no unauthorized uses of our brands that may be unsafe or inappropriate for children."

Source: BBC [http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/25741350]


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[Erttheking]

Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. Barbie's plastic surgery? Seriously, that is pretty fucked. Remember the days when she used to be president?

 

[WouldYouKindly]

Wait, Barbie is a doll, isn't all surgery plastic surgery?

On a slightly more serious note, no, just no.

 

[cerebus23]

I find this hilaroius, really barbie plastic surgery, brilliant, how about boob reductions, facelifts to keep her young, beautifully twisted.

steam should greenlight this .

 

[Mahorfeus]

As fucked up as this is, I'm not exactly sure how it promotes sexism of all things.

 

[cerebus23]

you can have the barbie keep asking for more stuff, meanwhile her face gets more and more twisted and alien looking as things go i think its a great thing and could be wonderful tool for children to show the pitfalls of putting this idea in girls heads that they have to meet some idea from tv and such, nm when people take it too far and just start to look like freaks.

i think the only thing the plastic surgeon industry would object to was they want to sell this stuff like getting a wart removed, and the most natural wholesome thing in the world to have toxins injected into your lips and your eyes, have your scalp sliced open the pulled tight and stiched back together. mmm mmm good.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

Except for marketing to kids, these sound like the kind of games that you can find on Newgrounds. In fact, I wonder if the nutjobs trying to get kids to play these games found something similar on a comedy site.

"At Mattel, we take our commitment to children seriously and work hard to ensure there are no unauthorized uses of our brands that may be unsafe or inappropriate for children." "Yeah, it's not ok for anyone to make something with Barbie in it, but we can still make a doll that has the physique of a model and loves constant shopping and driving in expensive cars. That'll show girls they need to be good little capitalists and give us more money." Sorry, I just had to dig at that a little.

you can have the barbie keep asking for more stuff, meanwhile her face gets more and more twisted and alien looking as things go i think its a great thing and could be wonderful tool for children to show the pitfalls of putting this idea in girls heads that they have to meet some idea from tv and such, nm when people take it too far and just start to look like freaks.

i think the only thing the plastic surgeon industry would object to was they want to sell this stuff like getting a wart removed, and the most natural wholesome thing in the world to have toxins injected into your lips and your eyes, have your scalp sliced open the pulled tight and stiched back together. mmm mmm good.

Yeah, they should edit the game to do that and have Barbie end up looking like that crazy lady that wanted the face of a cat by the end of the game.

 

[MCerberus]

As fucked up as this is, I'm not exactly sure how it promotes sexism of all things.

A similar game pulled had a similar description but instead uses a character named Barbara, depicted like Mattel's Barbie, who "likes to eat a lot of burgers and chocolates and once she found that she looks ugly." The plastic surgeon will "make operation on her body and face in order to return cute Barbara's look."

To answer your question, the whole programmed response that a girl isn't worth anything unless she looks like a Stepford Wife on a heroine binge. It's especially bad considering the whole "potentially painful and dangerous" part by bringing in elective surgeries like this.

I mean really, the description even comes with 'she's worth less as a human because she ate a cheeseburger'.

 

[Vivi22]

As fucked up as this is, I'm not exactly sure how it promotes sexism of all things.

How is a game about how a Barbie like character is resorting to surgery to make her look better, thereby implying that if she doesn't look perfect she has less worth as a person, not sexist?

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

I see this more as a body image issue than a sexism issue. If the game was about giving liposuction to men, it would still be bad.

 

[cerebus23]

As fucked up as this is, I'm not exactly sure how it promotes sexism of all things.

How is a game about how a Barbie like character is resorting to surgery to make her look better, thereby implying that if she doesn't look perfect she has less worth as a person, not sexist?

Or it can be used that a perfectly pretty person can have self image issues, nm famous pretty people with their picture everywhere, or she has some mental condition that makes her cumpulsive about this stuff, all sorts of triggers why some people would be driven to go under the knife to extremes even when they look good and healthy as is.

Be really wicked if the game asked after a certain point.

Barbie is a doll. What if she were a real person?
What are you going to do "doctor"?

what is too far there are sorts of ethical and mental issues that could be explored in this area. is not as cut in dry and sexism because some "hot" doll wants to go under the knife she is a doll she has no self motivation is what you do with the doll you sick twisted pervert. that is the point.

even for kids there are some good questions to ask oneself about this stuff and explore.

 

[MCerberus]

even for kids there are some good questions to ask oneself about this stuff and explore.

Which would be great, if the premise wasn't "please help her, she has a non-0 BMI".

 

[cerebus23]

Or she was doing it for a man or men in general that would be sexist and etc. or ken made her do it to look pretty for him stuff. not even legal in the real world at all i dont think for someone to get operated on under those listed as reasons why you want a new nose or a new cheeks.

But ther is a wealth of stuff that could be explored int he game some of it could be very benificial to look at some things from some one else's viewpoint, like people not getting why a pretty person might not be happy with their own image.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

While a 'Surgeon Simulator: Plastic Surgery Edition' sort of thing could potentially be interesting, the app here is just plain messed up. And that description; "Barbara's fat! Isn't she awful and inhuman for it?" is just plain messed up. And it's targeted at children?!

Normally I find the whole calls to get rid of video games ridiculous, but this should be taken down immediately.

 

[Exterminas]

As fucked up as this is, I'm not exactly sure how it promotes sexism of all things.

How is a game about how a Barbie like character is resorting to surgery to make her look better, thereby implying that if she doesn't look perfect she has less worth as a person, not sexist?

Because fat men don't receive anymore tolerance than women.
The fact that the games only display a female character can be read as sexist. If the game contained Cake-eating-Ken as well, there would be no problem in the sexism department.

But the mere fact that the game promotes the idea "Thin = Pretty and desirable, Fat = Ugly and in need of correction" has nothing to do with sexism. That is just good old fatty-bashing, which is a different issue.

Not every issue that concerns women can be classified as sexism.

Even leaving all that aside, I would not grant children access to this kind of material, since sexism or no, it does not promote a healthy way of thinking.

 

[AnthrSolidSnake]

Anyone else find it disturbing that we've got a group now saying what games we can or cannot buy because they have sa problem with it? I mean sure the game isn't one I'd buy, but come on, when I was a kid I played games that encouraged, speeding, reckless driving, running over people, and of course shooting everying that isn't you....not to mention ripping people's spines out... seriously, but a game about plastic surgery gets the 'THIS MUST BE STRICKEN FROM THE STORES'

The difference here is, it was marketed towards young girls. Those games you mentioned didn't use blatant and obvious marketing techniques to get young children to play them. That was a decision of your parents to bypass its rating and let you play them. This was the use of something children already identify with in order to bypass parents.

 

[cerebus23]

Either way they took the laziest common route, tossed barbie in because they hate her, and it will get sales and put it out, how they do not get sued out the gate for the barbie bit is a bit beyond me.

But really it is a great core idea for stuff. if someone put some work and thought into it you could do all sorts of intriguing stuff, ditch the barbie name tho we dont want to be sued.

Almost everyone has self image issues.

The role societal pressures play on those issues.

The stresses of celebrity and those pressures to look good.

Compulsive disorders that might compound self image issues.

The doctors role vs the patients wants. of course add in some bling for each operation performed, so you get new stuff each time you sell something to your client. so you got that ethical issue overhanging.

new mercadies benz and all you have to to is put in them triple DDDs your patient wanted. despite it not fitting her frame, it ruining her back, so on, hmm new car vs her health....

Each lipo is a new rolex watch, so how fit is too fit for lipo then? when do you tell your patient to go diet and exercise vs the knife?








fun stuff .

 

[shadowstriker86]

oh man, what a great way to wake up in the morning, laughing at this. everything about it is hilarious, and i can just hear the "barbie" type voice spieling out something like "hi, im barbie, and im getting a face lift so that i don't look like a 52 year old lizard!"