CASE STUDY ON THE FAILURE OF BARBIE DOLL IN THE INDIAN MARKET
Author: Sneha Saha
Introduction
Mattel in the year 1996 made its first certified endeavour to make an Indian Barbie. Be that as it may, the doll had precisely the same build as the standard blonde Barbie with similar tallness and unthinkable body estimations. Her pigmentation was extended exclusively by a slight degree, and her eyes were made hazel instead of blue. The rest was something similar like pink lips, a shy grin, sparkling eyes, and the invented physical make-up. With no huge expansions in its business, Mattel at that point advanced the Expressions of India Collection in 1997 as a piece of the Leo Mattel joint endeavour. The Collection was the last effort to make the Barbie doll look genuinely Indian; nonetheless, the adjustments were simply shallow changes in her dress and adornments, and that also to only six to eight distinct dolls dependent on a couple of the Indian states.
Barbie has neglected to make the very wizardry in India that she had made in her own country and some different pieces of the world. The Barbie doll didn't prevail in India because the toy neglected to embody the Indian regularizing strategy. The financial advancement of the Indian unfamiliar exchange strategy 1991 gave Mattel the force to fabricate a retail domain in India; yet, the simple presence of support of business exchange laws doesn't ensure business achievement abroad. Barbie in any event, when wearing Indian dress and adornments didn't accomplish her standard degrees of mass popularity in India because the doll failed to beat Indian standards that disavow hypersexualized and ethnocentric western portrayals of the female structure.
Reason for the wrong impact of Barbie on society
Barbie has been made the picture of being "great" in each sense, be it body fitness, dressing, skin tone, profession, etc. In different words, it very well may be said that Barbie imparts the image of flawlessness, accordingly, this severely affects the people and in the mind of young girls, in a way that if she needs to get awesome, she must resemble Barbie. This is preposterous, life isn't a walk in the park, as young girls deal with issues consistently, because of which they can't keep up the "Barbie look" and subsequently, foster pressure or their certainty is influenced. Like in respect to body style, is a Barbie dollhouse, which in all methods is great. The ideal body outline is 16-inch waist size, tallness, and wonderful cosmetics which each Barbie doll has.
Racism or division of class based on shading is another issue made by Barbie. Barbie at first worked as a reasonable tall young lady and just focused on the reasonable young ladies, which made an unevenness in the society as different young ladies having a place of various tones couldn't relate themselves with the reasonable Barbie. This, thus, contrarily affected the young ladies having a place from various races and tones, accordingly to be fruitful, the brand must be reasonable and tall. The brand additionally made a picture that achievement is for just tall lovely young ladies who fit in the "Barbie scale". This message enormously harmed the certainty of the young ladies, which further the conduct of the little young girls towards the brand. The tasteful collection of Barbie with proud conduct.
Failing Barbie in India
Mattel's endeavours in India were blocked by the risky idea of the very item it tried to advertise. Despite what Mattel did in endeavours to prevail upon Indian buyers, the item it attempted to sell the Indian variant of the Barbie doll was characteristically, and lethally, imperfect in her unreasonable and shady depiction of femininity Barbie, she oversees to prevail upon the faithfulness of youthful females everywhere on the world, except Indian women.
In 1860, the British ordered the Indian Penal Code, counting section 292[i], which were readopted by the Indian government also, are currently regularly known as the obscenity laws. Section 292 still effectively upheld, Parliament further tried to direct articulations of sexuality in the public space. The Revolting Representation of Women Act emerged from section 292, however, restricts its domain to portrayals of females. The Act restricts any open depictions of ladies that uncovered or depicts any part of the female body in such path as to be obscene, or injurious to, or slandering ladies, or is probably going to debase, ruin or harm general society ethical quality or morals of people of all ages or class.
Barbie was not an Indian doll, it was an American doll sold in some Indian stores, however, she never had a place in India. For Indians, the opportunity of the female is ensured through keeping up her independence from hyper-sexualized abuse. Mattel did not just endeavour to commodify the constitution of the Indian female in an unreasonable, gendered, and exoticized style, yet in addition, tried to popularize hundreds of years of long-standing Indian standards. These are social norms that withstand the effect of global partnerships. These are social codes that outperform any remaining laws, composed or unwritten, global or domestic. It is the inability to follow the most noteworthy laws of the Indian country that brought about Mattel's inability to make a place in the Indian market.[ii]
Conclusion
Barbie did not receive any warm welcome and appreciation in India because of the various flaws in the product. In India, Barbie's way of life, with her fascination with marvelousness didn't at first fit into the possibility of a regular Indian upbringing. It is absolutely the sexualized fiction of Barbie's body that the Indian public renounced. In India, hyper-sexualized portrayals of females are regularly seen to be disgusting. All together for an enterprise like Mattel to prevail in an Indian marketplace, the organization should cautiously follow and notice cultural and normative strategy.
References
https://blog.hawaii.edu/aplpj/files/2011/12/APLPJ_13.1_Nemani.pdf [i]Sec 292-Sale etc., of obscene book, etc. [ii]Globalization Versus Normative Policy: A Case Study on the Failure of the Barbie Doll in the Indian Market.