View source for Barbie Liberation Organization

{{short description|Group of artists and activists protesting gender stereotypes}}
{{Infobox organisation
| name = Barbie Liberation Organization
| formation = {{start date|1993}}
| image =
| type = Coalition
| purpose = [[Activism]]
| methods = [[Culture jamming]]
| fields = [[Gender role#Gender stereotypes|Gender stereotypes]]
<br />[[Criticism of capitalism]]<br />[[Plastic pollution]]
| website = {{URL|barbieliberation.org}}
}}

The '''Barbie Liberation Organization,''' or '''BLO''', are a group of artists and activists involved in [[culture jamming]]. Self described as "an underground network of creative activists," the group gained notoriety in 1993 after switching voice boxes in talking [[G.I. Joe|G.I. Joes]] and [[Barbie]] dolls. They resurfaced in August 2023, claiming to be the toy giant [[Mattel]] in order to announce a new collection of MyCeliaBarbie EcoWarrior Edition<ref>{{cite web | title=New Mattel Decomposable Barbie Line Celebrates the End of Plastic and Mourns the Dead | url=https://mattel-corporate.com/news/new-mattel-decomposable-barbie-line-celebrates-the-end-of-plastic-and-mourns-the-dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230807203615/https://mattel-corporate.com/news/new-mattel-decomposable-barbie-line-celebrates-the-end-of-plastic-and-mourns-the-dead | archive-date=7 August 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://mattel-corporate.com/news/new-mattel-decomposable-barbie-line-celebrates-the-end-of-plastic-and-mourns-the-dead |title=New Mattel Decomposable Barbie Line Celebrates the End of Plastic and Mourns the Dead |access-date=2023-08-02 |archive-date=2023-08-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230802191140/https://mattel-corporate.com/news/new-mattel-decomposable-barbie-line-celebrates-the-end-of-plastic-and-mourns-the-dead |url-status=dead }}</ref> compostable dolls, and a corporate wide move to plastic free toy production.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Barbie Liberation Organization |url=https://www.barbieliberation.org/ |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=Barbie Liberation Organization |language=en}}</ref>

In their first campaign the BLO performed "surgery" on a reported 300–500 dolls from retail and returned them to shelves, an action they refer to as ''shopgiving''. Thus, [[Teen Talk Barbie]] dolls would say phrases such as "Vengeance is mine", while G.I. Joe dolls would say phrases such as "The beach is the place for summer!"<ref>{{cite web |date=1938-10-30 |title=Barbie Liberation |url=http://sniggle.net/barbie.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101107135758/http://sniggle.net/barbie.php |archive-date=7 November 2010 |access-date=2010-10-30 |publisher=Sniggle.net}}</ref> Two leading members of the BLO, [[Jacques Servin]] and [[Igor Vamos]], would go on to found the culture jamming and political action group [[The Yes Men]].

In the 2023 action, actress [[Daryl Hannah]], posing as a spokesperson for Mattel, introduced the collection of biodegradable dolls and announced in a short video<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASH_2DsdJUA&list=PLRL7rnahCMV1TIgfFv_Y_EKOFGuV4j8jg&index=1|title=Plastic Free with Daryl Hannah|date=August 1, 2023|via=YouTube}}</ref> that the company would stop using plastic by 2030.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Albeck-Ripka |first1=Livia |title=Barbie Hoax Targets Mattel and Fools Some News Outlets |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/01/business/media/barbie-hoax-plastic-mattel-daryl-hannah.html |date=Aug 1, 2023}}</ref>  This was one of several videos<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRL7rnahCMV1TIgfFv_Y_EKOFGuV4j8jg|title=EcoWarrior Barbie Hoax|website=YouTube}}</ref> produced by Yellow Dot Studios<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://yellowdotstudios.com/|title=Yellow Dot Studios &#124;|date=September 16, 2024|website=Yellow Dot Studios}}</ref> as part of the BLO's campaign to leverage the publicity surrounding the launch of the [[Barbie (film)|''Barbie'' film]] to raise concerns about the pervasive use of plastics.<ref name="mattelhoax">{{Cite news |date=2023-08-02 |title=A new "EcoWarrior" Barbie, supposedly from Mattel, drew headlines. It was a hoax. - CBS News |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/barbie-ecowarrior-hoax-mattel/ |access-date=2024-11-26 |language=en-US}}</ref> Tying in with the satirical campaign is a [[website spoofing|hoax website]] bearing heavy resemblance to the real Mattel corporate site, where they issued a fake press release for the fictitious biodegradable Barbie line.<ref name="mattelhoax1">{{Cite web |date=2023-08-03 |title=Mattel Denies Claim That All Barbies Will Be Compostable |url=https://futurism.com/the-byte/mattel-denies-claim-barbies-compostable |access-date=2024-11-26 |website=Futurism}}</ref>

== Motivation and context ==

The BLO was originally conceived in an effort to question and ultimately change the [[gender stereotype]]s American culture is known for after [[Mattel]] released a speaking [[Teen Talk Barbie]] that said "Math class is tough."<ref>https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/547659/barbie-liberation-organization-gi-joe-hacked 'Eat Lead!': When Activists Hacked Talking Barbie|Mental Floss</ref> It took place in the middle of the [[culture wars]] of the 1990s when creative dissent was once again gaining popularity and artists and activists were often trying to conceive of new ways to rebel against cultural stereotypes and powerful forms like network TV. By 1993, criticism of Barbie as a negative gender stereotype for women<ref>https://globaltoynews.com/2020/10/01/the-history-of-black-barbies-from-playthings-to-liberation/ The History of Black Barbies: From to Liberation - Global Toy News</ref> was commonplace both in academia and popular culture. This may have been partially responsible for the generally positive response of the public to the project—the criticism they were making was familiar and not a controversial point to make during the 1990s. Although their criticism was not new, the creative form of hacking used by the BLO was noteworthy.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=3378375 |title=When Barbie Dated GI Joe: America's Romance with Cold War Toys |journal=The Public Historian |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=152–154|last1=McLellan |first1=Marjorie L. |year=1995 |doi=10.2307/3378375 }}</ref><ref name="jacketmagazine.com">{{cite web|url=http://jacketmagazine.com/27/w-gilb.html |title=Jacket 27 - April 2005 - Alan Gilbert: Anne Waldman Changing the Frequency |publisher=Jacketmagazine.com |date=1997-04-08 |access-date=2010-10-30}}</ref>

== Methods ==

There is a detailed description of the complex "surgery" they performed available on their website, encouraging others to take part in the surgeries themselves.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Barbie Liberation Organization {{!}} History |url=https://www.barbieliberation.org/history |access-date=2023-07-18 |website=Barbie Liberation Organization |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://backspace.com/notes/images/barbiedir.pdf|title=barbiedir.pdf}}</ref> The surgery required some technical skills, tools and precision, but the voice boxes in the dolls were similar enough that the surgery could be reproduced fairly easily in other parts of the country. They outlined the surgery in easy to understand images. After the surgery they would secretly return the toys to shelves, what they call ''reverse shoplifting''.

They also produced a video to explain their point.<ref>{{cite web |title=BLO video on YouTube | website=[[YouTube]] | date=15 September 2010 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMHMf9y-27w}}</ref><ref>https://www.vdb.org/titles/blo-nightly-news-0 Video Data Bank</ref> They used the familiar form of the nightly news message, collaged with cutting edge video art techniques to get their point across. Viewers would be unable to tell exactly what was news and what was made up, they made some points through exaggerations and some through the use of actual news footage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/page.php?NumPage=37 |title=Igor Vamos (biography) |publisher=Fondation-langlois.org |access-date=2010-10-30}}</ref> They recruited two children, one from San Diego, California, and one from Albany, New York, to showcase the modified toys to the news. Additionally, the BLO used their extra stock of modified dolls to go to stores that were near news stations that were covering the story, planted a modified doll on the shelf, and waited for the journalists to purchase the BLO's toy; this would show the reach and a seemingly large scale operation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://beautifultrouble.org/case/barbie-liberation-organization/|title=Barbie Liberation Organization|website=Beautiful Trouble|language=en-US|access-date=2019-09-22}}</ref> Having children already prepped to be interviewed and planning ahead to gain media coverage helped the BLO's image and reach.

The media responded with coverage, but no legal issues were ever seriously raised. Hasbro and Mattel, the makers of the dolls brushed off the action with little fuss, although one person was outraged with the "terrorist attacks" directed at children.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/31/us/while-barbie-talks-tough-g-i-joe-goes-shopping.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all |title=While Barbie Talks Tough, G. I. Joe Goes Shopping - New York Times |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=1993-12-31 |access-date=2010-10-30 |first=David |last=Firestone}}</ref>

== Debate ==

Because of the nature of culture jamming, it is hard to tell how many Barbies and G.I. Joes were actually switched, and how much of the media attention was orchestrated by the group. The artist [[Igor Vamos]], known for acts of media intervention, intentionally fed information to the media to report more cases of the switched identity surgeries. Although most sources suggest from 300–500 toys were hacked, other reports up to 3,000 across the country and in other countries like Canada, France and England. Others assert that only 12 toys were actually switched and the rest was cleverly arranged media hype by Vamos and his associates. This perspective indicates that the project was also a critique of the nature of the television and media culture of the 1990s, which led to other media interventions by Vamos, collaborators, and other groups in the coming years.<ref name="jacketmagazine.com" /><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qXePkMb8deQC&q=each+wild+idea |title=Each wild idea: writing, photography ... - Google Books |access-date=2010-10-30|isbn=9780262523240 |last1=Batchen |first1=Geoffrey |year=2002 |publisher=MIT Press }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Barbie}}
{{Culture jamming}}

[[Category:Organizations established in 1993]]
[[Category:1993 controversies in the United States]]
[[Category:American artist groups and collectives]]
[[Category:Protests in the United States]]
[[Category:Anti-consumerist groups]]
[[Category:Culture jamming]]
[[Category:Gender nonconformity]]
[[Category:G.I. Joe]]
[[Category:Toy controversies]]
[[Category:Journalistic hoaxes]]
[[Category:Propaganda techniques by medium]]
[[Category:Disinformation operations]]
[[Category:Internet trolling]]
[[Category:Art inspired by Barbie]]