Was Barbie a rich kid toy? Twitter users weigh in
As the July 23 release of Greta Gerwig’s highly anticipated Blockbuster Barbie movie gets closer, there’s been an increase in the discourse surrounding all things tied to the Mattel brand dolls. One conversation that’s generated a lot of opinions is about just how accessible Barbies have been for children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
On May 26, in a now-deleted series of tweets, Avery Edison (@aedison) argued against the notion that the iconic doll brand was available to all children. Simply put, Edison believes that Barbies are a rich kid toy.
“don’t know if this is entirely fair but when someone says ‘I grew up loving Barbie’ I hear ‘my family was not poor,'” Edison wrote. “my problem is not people simping for a brand — that’s all movies now — my problem is visceral flashbacks to all the kids in schools who had savings accounts and went on vacations.”
Are we really going to rewrite history and pretend that Barbie dolls were rare exclusives reserved solely for the elites pic.twitter.com/WpVuhxA5c4
— Zoë Rose Bryant (@ZoeRoseBryant) May 27, 2023
According to Value My Stuff, Barbies were priced at $2.99 when they debuted in 1959, which today equates to approximately $31. Back then, additional accessories ranged from $1 to $5.
Many Twitter users have argued that Barbies, contrary to Edison’s belief, were pretty reasonably priced and accessible to poorer kids.
“Are we really going to rewrite history and pretend that Barbie dolls were rare exclusives reserved solely for the elites,” writer Zoë Rose Bryant (@ZoeRoseBryant) tweeted that same day along with screenshots of Edison’s deleted tweets. As of reporting, Bryant’s tweet has garnered 4,932 retweets, 125,300 likes and 4,848 quotes.
My family was poor enough to be on public assistance for a period of time (70s), and my sister had every Barbie doll they made.
— El Coyote (@kbo_coyote) May 27, 2023
I still have mine in the boxes. A lot of the K-Mart stickers are for like $4.99 💸
— Cole Barrett (@barrettjcole) May 27, 2023
I had so many barbies that were hand me downs from family and friends of family growing up.
— ✨️𝕊𝕠𝕔𝕚𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕪𝕒𝕔𝕔𝕖𝕡𝕥𝟡𝟠 (𝕋.𝕍)🪩 (@SociallyAcc98) May 27, 2023
I dont get the discourse. Barbie COULD be expensive if you expected to have all the accessories and stuff, but one doll was literally less than $10 and today, they are typically around $10. The big sets cost more, but that’s not the same as Barbie being financially inaccessible
— ☆♡v♡☆ – xcalee (@xCaleeJ) May 29, 2023
Responses to Bryant’s screenshots of Edison’s claims seem to be split, however. Other Twitter users are defending Edison’s point of view, arguing that the coveted doll was seen as an unattainable luxury in some lower-income households, both within America and internationally.
Toys R Us catalogue from 1991. Barbies are $8.99 – $12.99 which is about $20-$30 today. This is significantly more than Babies retail for today. pic.twitter.com/ZAv3jp66uc
— B (@ohyeahhii) May 27, 2023
Depends on the country, in France they use to be super expensive in the 90s and my parents couldn’t buy them for my older sisters.
— Lou (@alittleduckie) May 27, 2023
I’m ngl barbies defo were a class thing where I grew up. like you had barbies or a Fashion Doll™ from dollar tree. like having a barbie-like doll was common but having a new barbie with nice hair and both shoes etc was definitely a rich kid thing.
— Jessa (@Jessssuhh) May 28, 2023
In an effort to defend herself, Edison also weighed in on the discourse surrounding her tweets.
Hi! I tried to describe the particular memories of extreme childhood poverty which are one aspect of my reaction to an upcoming movie. I didn’t do an absolutely perfect job with the wording, so I deserve to have hundreds of people screenshot and talk about what an idiot I am.
— Avery Edison (@aedison) May 27, 2023
Edison’s explanation of the unfair ways she’s been treated on Twitter since sharing her thoughts about the affordability of Barbies was also met with both support and criticism.
While some users empathize with how difficult it must’ve been for Edison to share her negative association with Barbies and to then receive such negative feedback, others still take offense to her claims that growing up with Barbies makes you elite.
Barbies aren’t the only popular toy that’s been discussed in terms of widespread accessibility. Beanie Babies, for instance, debuted in 1993 and were thought to have been “accessibly priced” at the time, according to Emily Stewart of Vox. Bratz dolls, which were created by ex-Mattel employee Carter Bryant in 2001 and, with the exception of one, were primarily dolls of color, sparked a similar classism debate on Reddit.
Twitter user Erin McPherson (@mcpherserin) offers a succinct takeaway from the Barbie classism discourse, which is that a product can be inaccessible or hard to acquire for some without being inherently reserved for the elite.
Not reserved for elites, but not accessible to everyone either. My single mom was lower middle class. A $10 doll (in the 1990s) wasn’t something she could do regularly and a $25 doll / dream house / accessories, etc. we’re absolutely a luxury relative to our household income.
— Erin McPherson 🪩 (@mcpherserin) May 28, 2023
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