Barbie’s been maligned over the years; early in her “career,” she endured criticism for not having ties to friends with different ethnic and/or racial backgrounds, then she lost points when the first African American Barbie, Francie, was introduced. Francie, critics said, had “white features and black skin.”
Then, women’s groups claimed that Barbie’s svelte figure was out-of-proportion, measuring 36-18-33; a woman with these measurements (at Barbie’s height, reportedly 5′ 11″) would be dying of starvation, or on the last stages of severe anorexia. While her life’s been rough, over the years the doll’s wizened-up, fattened-up, and opened-up. For the most part, anyway.
Though sometimes a pain in the legal briefs, Barbie was physically harmless–unless you count her head as a choking object–until recently. According to a warning issued by the FBI, one of the latest iterations of the doll, Video Girl Barbie, might be used illegally. The Video Barbie contains a surveillance camera, and the FBI released a warning that the doll could be employed by pedophiles to secretly record a child’s activity.
Why a child needs a surveillance camera inside America’s iconic doll is unknown. The threat, however, is real. To highlight this, CNN recorded the following video. About half of those recorded didn’t know they were on camera.
Tags: Barbie Doll, cameras, chicago, crime, Hidden Camera Barbie, spy, surveillance, U-Spy Store, Video Barbie, video surveillance
