It's one thing for Barbie to strut her stuff on the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue in a sexy one-piece. But it's another thing entirely for world's most famous doll to show up on a Girl Scout patch.
A consumer advocacy group wants the patch — and the commercial tie-in with Girl Scouts — nixed. While the patch does not show a Barbie doll, it shows the familiar Barbie logo.
"Holding Barbie, the quintessential fashion doll, up as a role model for Girl Scouts simultaneously sexualizes young girls, idealizes an impossible body type and undermines the Girl Scouts' vital mission," says Susan Linn, director of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.
For the consumer group, the core issue is the commercialization of childhood. In an Internet age, kids already are riddled with commercial messaging all over Web pages, blogs and Facebook pages. But a growing number of marketers, eager to reach into the moments that most touch us and influence our daily lives, increasingly are blurring the lines between real life and commercialism.
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