Lilli Dolls

Barbie, the adult-figured doll, is the most popular doll among little girls in America. The predecessor to the Barbie dolls are Lilli dolls which origin is Germany. Lilli dolls were created based on a comic character, and were not meant for children. Lilli dolls are sold in adult stores such as bars and adult-themed toy stores. Ruth Handler, the Mattel company cofounder went to Germany for vacation in 1956 and she came across to Lilli. According to the article in Time magazine, “Ruth Handler brought three of the dolls home with her to California. Three years later — on this day, March 9, in 1959 — she introduced her own adaptation at the American International Toy Fair in New York. The new doll was named Barbie, after Handler’s daughter.”

Barbie has a very attractive physical appearance with stylish dresses and accessories, and loved by little girls and influenced by her. The creation of Tokidoki Tattoo Barbie which has tattoo on her arm, neck, and back is not appropriate for children because it sends the wrong message about fashion and tattoos to impressionable children who don’t understand the permanency of tattoo. The off-shoulder top that feature a skull and crossbones, a hot-pink mini-skirt, are not appropriate fashion for little girls. The tattoo exposes children to tattoo at such young age where they are not capable of making informed decision. Even if the company claimed that Tokidoki Tattoo Barbie is for adult collection, the company sells Totally Stylin ' Tattoos Barbie, which came complete with removable sticker tattoos and a 'tattoo gun ' stamp. The Barbie dolls have very slim physical appearance which influences the child into wanting to have perfect body shape like Barbie. Children like to emulate adult figures and Barbie dolls become their role models. For example, in her interview in 1977, Ruth Hander, the co-founder of Mattel company acknowledged this fact by stating “Every little girl needed a doll through which to project herself into her dream of her future,…If she was going to do role playing of what she would be like when she was 16 or 17, it was a little stupid to play with a doll that

Tattoos always possessed a specific meaning for a particular culture. Nowadays, Tattoos are used by people for various reasons such as an expression of what their belief, feel or like. Tattoos are permanent and expensive to remove. Teenagers who want to have tattoos don’t fully understand the permanency of it. Even if they do, they are so preoccupied with the idea that of having a tattoo and fail to recognize that they might dislike it in the future when their interest, beliefs, style or taste changes. For example, a teenager who has a religious icon tattoo and became an atheist or converted to another religion when he is an adult. The only option he has is either to live with it or bear the expensive cost to remove it. He is facing an emotional burden, regretting his uninformed decision that the tattoo they have will stay with them forever. Having a tattoo is a life time decision. The main point here is the fact that most teens regret their decision when they grow up. According to an article by Wall Street Journal article, “Many teens assume that if they tire of a tattoo they can get it removed, but the process is difficult and expensive. The usual method, laser surgery, uses high-intensity light to break up tattoo pigment. The more complex the tattoo, the more difficult it is to remove.” (Shellenbrager). The article further stated that the tattoo will not be