Barbie's pregnant friend

Does anyone have any idea why the Midge doll (Barbie's pregnant friend) was pulled from shelves at Wal Mart? I heard about this, but really don't understand why people oppose a pregnant doll.

Re: Barbie's pregnant friend

I didnt even know they made a pregnant barbie
I dont think I would ever buy one thoiugh. My guess is why they took it off the shelf is so that young girls dont get the idea and go out and get prego.

Re: Barbie's pregnant friend

maybe b/c its too graphic? Didn't it have a baby come out of the belly? I wouldn't buy it if I had a daugher

Re: Barbie's pregnant friend

That's what I don't understand, little girls see pregnant women all the time (their moms, aunts, friends, strangers, etc.) and often love toys that have to do with motherhood (baby dolls, strollers). I don't think a pregnant doll (with a husband--the doll even has a husband who has a wedding band on and they have a little boy too!) will make girls want to go out and get pg
I think the baby is attached by magnet to the stomach, I don't think it's graphic.

Re: Barbie's pregnant friend

I wanna see it!!! i dont think i would have a problem giving my daughter a doll like that...

Re: Barbie's pregnant friend

Nina, its hard to explain why it feels too graphic (note that I only read about the toy, didn't see it in person). May be the company is also afraid of lawsuits in case girls will grow up with bad morals, etc.? Or perhaps as a parent, such thoughts would bring 'mommy where do babies come from' questions more often or earlier than normal?

Re: Barbie's pregnant friend

I didn't know they took it off the shelves at Wal-Mart. But I did hear that they had to make her Barbie's FRIEND not Barbie herself since they didn't want to ruin that wholesome image, what a crock!!!

FOUND A PIC OF IT ON EBAY!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=15953&item=2083043265

Re: FOUND A PIC OF IT ON EBAY!

Can you believe what they want/willing to pay for it! Geez! I bet its going to be a collectors item, already is probably! I should buy one!

Re: FOUND A PIC OF IT ON EBAY!

Wow, that is pretty pricey!! It's must be b/c they're going to stop making it or something. Anyway, it's still disturbing to me that parents will but their kids Grand Theft Auto Vice City, but they can't play with pregnant dolls!! What is wrong with our society!

NINA

Well said, I agree with you 100%!

Re: NINA

I totally agree w/the absurdity of the whole Grand Theft Auto thing, especially since I recently heard about the whole 'rape' scene in the GTA game!!! Parents obviously are NOT heeding the warning/rating labels on video games, and it IS VERY disturbing to hear that a MARRIED PREGNANT doll gets pulled from store shelves! WTF!

Re: NINA

And dont forget in GTA Vice City, if you kill the hooker after the act you get bonus points!!

Re: Barbie's pregnant friend

I agree with the GTA!! I got it for FI for xmas - I can't even believe to tell you guys what's on it!!!!! The thought that anybody 'young' could be playing is absolutely disgusting. When I went to buy it for him at Target, the salespeople actually asked me who I was buying it for, as the game was quite graphic and inappropriate for the little ones.

Re: Barbie's pregnant friend

Here's an article from washingtonpost.com

washtingtonpost.com article - Pregnant Midge

Pregnant Midge Doll Yanked From Wal-Mart


By Ron Todt
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, December 24, 2002; 5:41 PM

PHILADELPHIA –– She is Barbie's oldest friend, happily married and visibly pregnant with her second child – and some parents think she's a little too real for their children.

The pregnant version of Midge, which pops out a curled-up baby when her belly is opened – has been pulled from Wal-Mart shelves across the country following complaints from customers, a company spokeswoman said Tuesday.

'It was just that customers had a concern about having a pregnant doll,' Wal-Mart Stores spokeswoman Cynthia Illick said.

She said the entire 'Happy Family' set, which included pregnant Midge, husband Alan and 3-year-old son Ryan, was pulled from shelves of the world's largest retailer earlier this month.

'What we try to do is listen to what our customers want,' Illick said. 'In this case, we decided to remove the product from the shelves. I think it was a unique situation.'

Messages left for representatives of the toy's maker, Mattel Inc., were not returned Tuesday.

Midge was introduced in 1963, a freckle-faced redhead and the first of a slew of friends and family members for Barbie, the blue-eyed blonde who first appeared four years earlier and has been one of the world's top-selling dolls ever since.

In Barbie-land, Midge married boy-doll Alan in 1991, and the happy couple already has a 3-year-old son, Ryan.

The pregnant Midge, who wears a tiny white wedding ring, has a detachable magnetic stomach that allows easy 'delivery' of the baby.

An article on Mattel's Barbie.com Web site says the 'Happy Family' dolls are designed to satisfy the desire for nurturing play by girls age 5 to 8, and can be 'a wonderful prop for parents to use with their children to role-play family situations – especially in families anticipating the arrival of a new sibling.'

Manager Bill Boehmer of the KB Toys store in Northeast Philadelphia's Roosevelt Mall said the doll was selling well, and he had heard no negative responses from customers.

'I've had people laugh, but I haven't had anyone say this was ridiculous or 'What are we trying to tell these kids?' or anything like that,' Boehmer said.

But at KB Toys in the Gallery mall in downtown Philadelphia reaction from last-minute Christmas shoppers was negative.

'It's a bad idea. It promotes teenage pregnancy. What would an 8-year-old or 12-year-old get out of that doll baby?' asked Sabrina Fagan, 29, of Philadelphia.

© 2002 The Associated Press

Re: Here's an article from washingtonpost.com

OK..... I was at first really horrified when I read about this, but after reading Karen's post, I did change my mind. What's so terrible about having Midge happily married with a great husband, a son, and a child on the way? When I was little, I used to stuff Barbie's dress with tissues and pretend that her and Ken were married and going to have a baby. Now kids don't have to go that far. If parents don't want their kids to have it, then they don't have to buy it for them. I think Grand Theft Auto is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more damaging than this!!! ....and parents are buying it for their kids left and right, old enough or not! I have a few kids in my class who play that regurally (and I am a 1st grade teacher!)

Alright, now I got that off my chest. I'm glad to hear what you mommies and mommies to be have to say about this one!

Kelly

Re: Here's an article from washingtonpost.com

What will they think of next?? I need a head shaking smilie How come they don't have a Ken doll acting as a happily married stay at home dad??? I just think it sends the message that women are supposed to get married and have children, so why are not preparing men to be husbands and fathers. What, parenting is a woman's work only?

I will now step off of my soap box

Re: Here's an article from washingtonpost.com

How about the fact that in Grand Theft Auto my little brother (12 years old) can have sex with a hooker in an alley, have the car move up and down, then pay the girl only to beat the hooker over the head with a bat to get his money back!!!!!!!
In the new BMX XXX there are strippers and lap dances! Thankfully he does not have that game. My parents didn't even know what he was doing in Grand Theft Auto, I had to tell them about the 'feature' after DH's brother told me. But God forbid a child see a pregnant women!

Re: Here's an article from washingtonpost.com

Shamma,
I agree that we can do a better job of raising boys to be husbands and fathers, but I don't think that is why parents wanted the doll to be pulled from the shelves. These parents who think the doll is 'too real' and promotes teen pregnancy need a reality check themselves.