On Sunday Blanca Gispert gathered here a pile of interesting data relating to the great commercial impact of the success achieved by the film Barbie. Not only have sales of new dolls increased by 19%, but the rosacea craze is spreading to the old ones. The market for second-hand Barbies has boomed so out of proportion that many people on the low salary cap must be rummaging through closets to see if they can locate the cardboard sarcophagi they were stored in thirty years ago and can make a drawer. It can be seen that those from the nineties are quoted a lot. I wouldn't be surprised if there were lists of ratings according to the vintage, as is done with wines.
But the most interesting part of the report was a piece of news about the Catalan cooperative Abacus, a reference store for Catalan masters. He said that, following the feminist message of the film, they are considering starting to sell Barbies. Abacus, founded in the emblematic year of 1968 to market educational materials of all kinds, has experienced exponential growth in recent decades which has led it to have a presence in many towns in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Country without renounce the founding idea of spreading the Catalan language and a series of ethical, solidarity and social values. As far as is known, no Barbie has ever been sold to Abacus, because they considered that the Mattel doll conveyed values that did not fit into their "editorial" line. This could change in the coming months. After years and locks of color neutrality in children's toys to combat the sexist separation symbolized by the colors blue and pink, it may happen that, starting in January, the Abacus will be dyed Pantone PMS 219 C, a color registered by Mattel as the Barbie Pink, a shade of pink higher than what the Pantera wore, ditto.
The Barbie phenomenon could be repeated with other toys that have never been sold, until now, in stores like Abacus because they were belligerent or sexist, but I can't think of any movie that can whitewash my cherished ones Madelman colonials Commando, Safari Carrier and Pirate Jim Black, the first and only black dolls I played with as a child.
