Abstract
There are well-documented negative body image effects related to the unrealistic body shape of the "original" Barbie doll. Matel® has recently produced new Barbie dolls with "tall", "curvy", and "petite" body types, yet the impact of these new body types has not been studied on young girls' body images. The present research was conducted to investigate youth's internalization of the different Barbie representations, as well as participants' explicit preferences toward different Barbie body types. Participants (N=38, Mage=10, SD=2.24 years) completed a body-part compatibility task to evaluate how each individual implicitly related their body to different doll images, and an online questionnaire assessing explicit preferences for each body type. Based on the results, there were significant (p < .05) body-part compatibility effects for the original, curvy and petite dolls, but not for the tall Barbie. The effects were not modulated by age or ethnicity. These findings indicate that participants' internal representations of their own body matched all doll images except the doll with the tall, thin body type. This pattern of compatibility effects was not consistent with the explicit measures (e.g., curvy Barbie was most likeable but reported as least desirable, whereas original and tall Barbie were both rated low on likeable, but high on desirable). Overall, these data indicate that the manner in which young girls implicitly resonate and identify with dolls with different body types is not consistent with their explicit preferences and these findings may have body image implications for the internalization of body ideals.
