Barbie is an aging relic from a bygone era. Even little girls want cell phones and iPods these days. When they do want a doll, they often go for Bratz, those characters with gargantuan heads and trendy (read skimpy) clothing. Mattel is feeling the pressure, and making a major push to revitalize its Barbie brand with Barbie Girls, a mix of virtual and real Barbie-related products.
BarbieGirlsSM, for example, is an online world, much like Second Life, where girls can create highly customizable characters, decorate personal "rooms," play games, and chat with other Barbie Girls users.
BarbieGirlsSM is more than just another online destination, though. The service will be tightly integrated with a new line of doll-shaped Barbie Girl Digital Audio Players (DAPs). Other than the Barbie-like aesthetics, the players will be fairly standard fare – 512-megabytes of flash memory that can hold approximately 120 MP3 or 240 Windows Media (WMA) files, a built-in rechargeable battery and a miniSD slot for adding up to 2-gigabytes of additional storage.
These DAPs can be plugged into your computer and connected to the Barbie Girl world to unlock additional content. The players will go on sale in July for $59.99.
And for those who worry that an internet site specifically designed for young girls is bound to make an appearance on To Catch A Predator there are some impressive security features.
From the Mattel Press Release:
- Sophisticated word filters to keep chat secure, prevent the exchange of personal information (e.g. phone
numbers, names, etc.) and block inappropriate, hurtful or offensive language.
- Easy-to-use safety features that give a girl the ability to lock or open her room to other characters, the ability to block users and prevent them from contacting her on the site, and the ability to report other users for inappropriate behavior.
- Robust moderation tools that provide BarbieGirls.com administrators with the ability to monitor chat that occurs in the environment, track and monitor reported users and ban users who attempt objectionable behavior.
There is also a "secret" chat that bypasses the filtering and monitoring, but it is only available to girls who know each other. Mattel verifies this by requiring girls to connect their Barbie Girls DAP to the PCs of any girl they want to have a "secret" chat with.
BarbieGirlsSM.com is available now in beta (testing) form.
From
Beta NewsRelated Links:
Remember that 'Second Life'-like Barbie world we told you about, 'Barbie Girls?' Well, it has been a runaway success for Mattel. Now, the company faces a new challenge with the service -- turning it into a money-making machine. 
