Barbie’s Dirty Secrets

[This] transformed her into a multi-billion-dollar brand (Source: Laidlaw 2025, np link).

[B]ut … [‘Barbie’s Dirty Secrets’] promises to show a much bleaker side to the celebrated doll (Source: Richardson 2024, np link).

In this hidden camera investigation, award-winning reporter Isobel Yeung from Britain’s Channel 4 exposes what really goes on in Mattel’s Chinese factories where the famous doll is produced … (Source: Laidlaw K 2025, np link).

… [and] uncovers the less glamorous aspects of this commercial success … (Source: Jacobs 2024, np link).

… [including] disturbing allegations about Mattel’s operations from its factory floors … (Source: Stalcup 2024, np link).

… of bullying, harassment and unsafe working conditions (Source: Ahmed 2024, np link).

Life in plastic might not be quite so fantastic for those who work on the production line of these famous dolls (Source: Wallis 2024, p.33).

[Isobel Yeung:] I’ve been looking through these reports about the factories that Mattel owns and runs in China. This is where Barbies are made and I have to say they’re pretty concerning. The reports are written by an NGO called China Labor Watch. In the past they’ve exposed issues with the supply chains of global corporations like Apple and Amazon. In the last four years they’ve twice sent investigators into one particular Mattel-owned Factory in Dongguan in Southern China and what they found was evidence of bullying, excessive overtime, sexual harassment and unsafe working environments [see China Labor Watch 2024]. Four years ago, Mattel promised to conduct a thorough investigation into the allegations but how effective was this? Because China Labor Watch say they again found the same problems in the factory this year. The only way, really, for us to witness firsthand what’s going on inside this factory is to go undercover and wear hidden cameras and that’s something that no one’s managed to do before [NB see our page on a 2004 documentary called ‘Santa’s workshop’ here] I make a call to a contact who has helped me with undercover investigations in China before. [Talking to contact on her phone:] ‘If we’re able to pull it off, we’ll be the first people who have cameras inside a Mattel factory. But, what are the risks that come with that?’ [Her contact, in a muffled voice:] ‘Two months ago the Chinese government arrested hundreds of people who have bought investigative secret cameras, people who make, manufacture, supply these cameras have been sent to jail.’ [Talking to camera:] So, yeah, it’s giving me slight sweaty Palms to be honest (Source: Channel 4 Documentaries 2024, np link).

[Isobel Yeung:] After months of planning our undercover reporter is ready she approaches the Mattel Factory posing as a migrant worker. She’s hired on the spot. Before she can start work making Barbie dolls, our reporter has to attend an induction and training session in a classroom. Via video message the new recruits are given a warm welcome from a senior Mattel executive. [He says:] ‘I personally hope that you will make Mattel your home away from home. The people in Mattel are very friendly and our supervisors, our line leaders, our managers are very approachable.’ [Yeung:] its annual report last year Mattel said it ‘is focused on creating a safe and healthy workplace for all its employees.’ It’s a message that’s reinforced to the new recruits. The workers are promised that on the factory floor they’ll be shown how to use the machines and given safety training. But when our reporter starts her first shift on the next day safety doesn’t seem to be the priority (Source: Channel 4 Documentaries 2024, np link).

[Isobel Yeung:] Mattel is keen to present itself as a champion of women’s rights. [In a toy store:] You got so many Barbies here. Look at what we’ve got? ‘Barbie you can be anything’! ‘Presidential candidate Barbie.’ In recent years it’s marked International Women’s Day by modeling its dolls on successful women: from actors and singers to scientists and engineers. Mattel says it wants to show girls they can be anything. But how empowered are the women making the Barbie dolls back at Mattel’s factory in Southern China (Source: Channel 4 Documentaries 2024, np link)?

The investigation alleges employees are given no safety briefing … (Source: Ahmed 2024, np link).

… [and shows] the harsh realities faced by workers who manufacture the world’s most iconic doll … [including] the dangerous working conditions of staff. Staff were seen to handle scalding hot plastic for the dolls without proper protective gear – leading to burns and blisters (Source: Byrom 2024, np link).

[Our first undercover reporter is] assigned to work with hot plastic, she’s concerned she may need safety gloves, but is told it’s not necessary by the team leader. The arms and legs of Barbie dolls are moulded here. Our reporter is told to operate this machine, which heats up the raw plastic and moulds it into shape. Her job is to take hot moulded pieces of plastic out of the machine. But there’s no safety briefing and the worker assigned to show her the ropes doesn’t have safety gloves either to protect against the heat. The hot plastic hurts our reporter’s hands when she takes it out of the machine. Her manager admits she herself got blisters when she first started the job. So we’ve just had quite a concerning update from her first day in the Mattel factory today. She sounds absolutely exhausted. Her job has essentially been to pick these tiny little Barbie legs out of the plastic moulds. And she says that’s led to her hands being burned. Supervisors and another worker tell our reporter to let the plastic cool down once she has taken it out of the machine. But that doesn’t solve her problem. She’s still expected to put her bare hands into the machine to extract the hot pieces in the first place… ..over 100 times as the day wears on. We showed this footage to a health and safety expert, who said there was no evidence of adequate safety precautions, despite the factory being aware of the risks. He said our reporter should have been given protective gear before using the machine. But almost two hours into her shift, she has to ask two more times for a glove. Eventually they gave her one left-handed glove. She’s right-handed so it’s of no use to her (Source: Channel 4 documentaries 2024, np link).

[Isobel Yeung:] It sounds like [our undercover reporter is] having a really really tough time. So, we’re a little bit concerned about her medical well-being and about her psychological well-being. I’m checking in with my contact who is running our undercover operation. [On the phone talking to them:] ‘Is she doing okay? I mean, what’s, how is she? [The contact:] Her hand was burned. She said this is the most the worst. It’s very noisy, very hot/’ [Yeung to camera:] We have to make a difficult call. So, we are having to make the decision right now to pull our reporter out of the Mattel Factory. She’s saying that she’s got burns on her hands. She feels like she can’t go on because she’s been handling so much hot plastic obviously. This woman’s safety and well-being comes first. But it does feel like a bit of a blow for our investigation, to be honest, because it feels like we’re only just starting to scratch the surface of what’s going on inside this factory (Source: Channel 4 documentaries 2024, np link).

[Isobel Yeung] Our [second] reporter’s job is to attach heads to bodies. Moana 2 comes out in November, so the pressure’s on. On his first day, the reporter had to complete 1,000 plastic toys. But by day three, the new workers are supposed to be more efficient. Today’s target is more than 1,400 dolls. It’s a struggle to keep up – and things are made worse when his equipment breaks. Unhappy with their progress, the team leader calls a meeting. She threatens that workers will have to leave the company unless they hit their quotas. During their 10-minute break, other workers on the same production line tell our reporter they’ve decided to quit. Mattel promises to maintain ‘humane working conditions’ in all of its factories. But in two consecutive investigations, the NGO China Labor Watch found that production targets are often impossible to achieve, and leave workers exhausted. It’s the same for our reporter. Towards the end of his 11-hour shift, he’s struggling to hit his target. But gets no leeway from his team leader (Source: Channel 4 Documentaries 2024, np link)

[One worker] said they could not make the work quota – at its highest finishing 1,400 Moana 2 dolls per day – even if they vomited blood (Source: Wynarczyk 2024, np link).

A manager at the factory allegedly told employees: ‘If you can’t finish our quota, if you can’t reach our standards, then I have to say: ‘Sorry, you go, go to another factory, you’re not welcome in Mattel’ (Source: Ahmed 2024, np link).

The [undercover] reporter said: ‘I worked for three days in total and was physically near my limit yesterday. I feel like this factory just doesn’t treat people like human beings. People are used as animals.’ Real workers echoed those feelings. One said: ‘Every day I feel so much pressure, I cannot breathe. The manager said, in the factory, you must obey orders unconditionally’ (Source: Wynarczyk 2024, np link).

Others [workers] said they were penniless as the pay for an 11-hour shift is €20.18 (Source: Wynarczyk 2024, np link).

A worker [said]: ‘I have a family too and I have to get by. You get paid that little a month at the Mattel factory. I’m financially drained. I haven’t got a penny’ (Source: Byrom 2024, np link).

Dispatches said employees were required to sign agreements to work 100 hours of overtime per month, nearly three times China’s legal limit (Source: Wynarczyk 2024, np link).

[The undercover reporter continued:] ‘The contract I signed is a labour contract, not a slave contract’ (Source: Cox 2024, np link).

Thulsi Narayanasamy, Director of International Advocacy at NGO Worker Rights Consortium said the alleged footage revealed ‘a workplace in which the workers themselves are being treated to be just as disposable as the dolls that they’re making’ (Source: Ahmed 2024, np link).

[She added] ‘I think what the working conditions illustrate is that this pink and joy and female empowerment is nothing but a facade for the exploitative conditions in which the women that are making the dolls are having to live’ (Source: Byrom 2024, np link).

Through the Barbie Movie, Mattel presented itself as a company that really cares about female empowerment and inclusivity. It’s promised to treat its employees well and to earn the trust of parents. But the more I’ve learned, the more I wonder whether this whole makeover is really just skin deep. Responding to our undercover investigation, Mattel said it is ‘committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment and ensuring that all employ employees, including at our manufacturing facilities, are treated fairly and respectfully.’ It said its toy manufacturing is regularly audited by ‘ICTI CARE Foundation Inc … to help ensure safety and workplace standards are met’ and said ‘an additional independent investigation will be conducted to help ensure we are continuing to provide a safe and healthy working environment’ (Source: Yeung in Channel 4 Documentaries 2024, np link).

Mattel, who owns more than 200 brands from Hot Wheels to Fisher Price and Thomas and Friends as well as Barbie, also comes under fire in the documentary for their aggressive legal tactics. The documentary claims that in the past five years, Mattel has filed 268 cases against other business for trademark infringement – more than the other four biggest toy companies combined. The company is also accused of failing to prioritise product safety. It comes after one of Mattel’s products, the Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play Sleeper was linked to the deaths of around 100 newborns ((Source: Byrom 2024, np link).

Barbie’s Dirty Secrets … is the culmination of a four-year inquiry in which undercover investigators twice infiltrated the factory (Source: Farber 2024, p.20).

[Production company] ZANDLAND spent months gathering the evidence for our undercover investigation, speaking to workers at the factory and training our undercover operatives (Source: Zandland 2024, np link).

Zandland was behind C[hannel ]4’s digital series Life Uncovered, in which the indie’s founder, British-Iranian filmmaker, Ben Zand immersed himself in unconventional lifestyles, as well as the broadcaster’s recent Dispatches doc Barbie’s Dirty Secrets (Source: Anon 2024a, np link).

Channel 4 is a British public broadcasting service (Source: Channel 4 Documentaries 2024, np link).

[Isobel] Yeung has already tackled Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children, Chinese surveillance and the occupation of the West Bank. Her latest project looks to be just as unflinching (Source: Molander 2024, np link).

As … Yeung reports, [Mattel’s] manufacturing processes are historically not without scandal. In 2007 the brand was forced to recall nearly 18.7 million Chinese-made products, such as Batman action figures, when they were discovered to feature lead paint or small magnets that posed a safety risk to children (Source: Segal 2024, p.50).

Barbie’s Dirty Secrets, produced by Zandland for C[hannel ]4’s Dispatches strand, airs in the UK today and will be available to licence internationally (Source: C21 Reporter 2024, np link).

Dispatches is the British TV current affairs documentary series on Channel 4, first transmitted in 1987. The programme covers issues about British society, politics, health, religion, international current affairs and the environment, and often features a mole inside organisations under journalistic investigation (Source: Anon 2024b, np link).

‘We’re incredibly proud to announce our latest doc, Barbie’s Dirty Secrets,’ said Josh Reynolds, creative director at ZANDLAND. ‘It takes an important look at what goes on behind the scenes of a cultural phenomenon and holds power to account in a way ZANDLAND does best. It’s always great to have All3Media International distributing our films, and this will be the third one we’ve collaborated on’ (Source: Stalcup 2024, np link).

All3Media International has announced it will be representing Barbie’s Dirty Secrets (1 x 1 hour) … in the UK and following this premiere is available to licence internationally. Amber Richardson, Unscripted Content Executive at All3Media International, ‘We are delighted to partner with ZANDLAND on Barbie’s Dirty Secrets. This brand-new investigative documentary marks the third title we are representing from ZANDLAND’s slate following The Secret World of Incels and our upcoming MIPCOM launch The Secret World of Looksmaxxing’ (Source: TVA Editor 2024, np link).

The All3Media International team identified a need to rebalance the catalog with the addition of strong factual programming that buyers would acquire at premium rates. To deliver this change in strategy, the company appointed Rachel Job to head up its premium factual drive. … The company is on the lookout for documentaries that explore ‘buzzy, contemporary topics that have global resonance,’ says Job. For example, Barbie’s Dirty Secrets from ZANDLAND and Trump: The Criminal Conspiracy Case from 72 Films are both timely and cover topics in the public psyche after the box-office success of the Barbie movie last year and the upcoming U.S. presidential election (Source: Anon 2024c, np link).

Amber Richardson, Unscripted Content Executive at ALL3Media International: [said] …’Told with empathy, objectivity and distinct filmmaking ZANDLAND is renowned for … we are confident global audiences will find the never-before-seen access into the hidden worlds of Barbie and Mattel utterly compelling’ (Source: Anon 2025a, p.10 link).

[Y]ou’ll need a VPN to watch outside of the UK/Ireland, the full documentary is available on youtube (Source: [deleted] 2024, np link).

[Australia’s Channel] Nine is airing the investigation under the 60 Minutes banner during the Easter non-ratings period, ahead of the networks’ post-holiday reality TV rollouts in a week’s time (Source: Laidlaw 2025, np link).

[Dutch TV channel VRT Canvas schedule, 1 May 2025:] 07.00 Radio 2 09.00 Feratel 17.35 The Pyrenees 18.20 Vietnam: the birth of a nation 19.15 De ideale wereld 20.00 Barbie’s dirty secrets 20.35 Europa League 23.00 Het weer 23.05 De ideale wereld (Source: Anon 2025b, p.22).

We can’t imagine a more fitting vieving for Labor Day (Source: Anon 2025c, p.44).

It seems like odd timing for this documentary exploring one of the world’s most iconic brands and its owner Mattel – last summer, when the hit movie was on everyone’s lips, might have felt more relevant (Source: Anon 2024d, p.54).

I can’t believe it. Mattel claims anti slavery policy 😭 (Source: @BardzoPowaznyUzytkownik 2024, np link).

[They] tried to sue the pop band Aqua over their song Barbie Girl, which a US Court of Appeal high court judge dismissed. Mattel accused the song of denigrating the morality and innocence of their beloved doll – just don’t mention the slave sweatshop conditions of how it gets made (Source: @actionjackson180 2024, np link).

How is this slavery? They are treated poorly but they are getting paid (Source: @NotAnotherKuromi a 2024, np link).

@NotAnotherKuromi a: It’s called neoslavery. Anti slavery act it’s not only about unpaid job (Source: @BardzoPowaznyUzytkownik 2024, np link).

@NotAnotherKuromi b: get a clue, kid. Read the act (Source: @fookorf 2024, np link).

@fookorf don’t be so rude (Source: @Liverpoolboy01 2024, np link).

[But isn’t it] wearyingly predictable to learn that those charged with producing the dolls are not well treated (Source: Anon 2024e, p.26)[?]

Everyone knows this type of exploitation goes on and choose to ignore it, when it comes to manufacturing abroad and selling goods for a massive profit onto the public. Most companies do it and it won’t end anytime soon (Source: djk3 2024, np link).

All manufacturing in Asia is the same. Why would anyone thing kids toys are any different (Source: @mememe_2525 2024, np link)?

No one is shocked by this, everyone knows why things are manufactured in these countries (Source: Gems11 2024, np link).

Show me a single factory in China that has a good working conditions for workers (Source: @MrDefacto 2024, np link).

Its heartbreaking to see what it looks like but at this point I would be more shocked to see one of these factories treating its employees well (Source: @riggers4310 2024, np link).

Sick world we live in (Source: @helentucker6407 2024, np link).

I misread the title as ‘the truth about trixie mattel’ and saw channel 4 docs and was so confused 😂 (Source: @lamonochromatique 2024, np link).

[I]t’s hard to imagine the newly woke Barbie approving (Source: Anon 2024f, p.40).

Barbie the doctor. Barbie the lawyer. Barbie the wage slave (Source: @JupiterThunder 2024, np link).

[This] was a most disturbing exposé. One of the negative effects of globalisation has been the West’s use and abuse of foreign workers to increase profits (Source: Banks in Hill 2024, p.143).

It’s all well and good highlighting it, but most people just don’t care. Humans are inherently selfish and as long as they have their own good standard of living they are happy-pay to be blissfully ignorant to the harm their way of life causes others. When you rely on global imports (and export your rubbish/recycling) for food, clothing and luxuries you are effectively paying to not be shown the damage you cause to other people and the planet. For each Barbie doll you could shine a light on 1000’s of other products being manufactured the same way (Source: EcoNotWoke 2024, np link).

Most consumer goods worldwide are made in China under similar conditions. It is almost impossible now to source ethically made products for everything, as it is just not economically viable to make them. All your plastic christmas trees and decorations, all your upcoming Halloween tat, and an increasing number of electronics are made in chine under conditions that would not be acceptable in Europe. Nearly all your clothes are made in factories in SE. Asia under poor conditions. The reality is that in the many places much poorer than the UK people are willing to work a lot harder for a lot less. Not good, but a reality (Source: bluecramp 2024, np link).

What China pays its workers are not my issue or concern (Source: osiris 2024, np link).

The west wants cheap consumer goods someone has to pay for it (Source: whocaresthistime 2024, np link)

What choice do we have but to buy it, everything we buy is made there, about time we looked after our own manufacturers (Source: Copycat13 2024, np link)!

This is being reported if this was draconian treatment in a far off land but I was treated exactly like this in the UK late eighties early nineties. This was the reality of working in a factory (Source: @ianhoyle8459 2025, np link).

This is a non story, I’ve worked in factories in Europe and experienced worse. It’s just life people work to make things (Source: @XTSu-sl1bb 2025, np link).

UK have the same conditions in warehouses as shown in the video. [The courier film] DPD could just not let you sign out until loading is finished (it could be 30min, could be an hour). Getting bullied for going to toilet just once. Worked in another factory with moulding machines. Gloves were not provided either. They said you will get use to it. Had to hold a lot bigger hot plastic pieces (Source: @jellyfishtube 2024, np link).

Try working in homebargain warehouse, you get one hour training on a llop driving around dangerously fast! If you don’t pick enough during your shift you get made to feel worthless. They even post you’re picks per shift to make you feel even worse (Source: @Kennyl10UK 2025, np link).

Sounds like amazon (Source: @MummyGainz 2024, np link).

You’re so right. Did this shit at Amazon. Half hour break including walking from and back to the line. About 10 mins is what you got to shovel food down your throat in the middle of the night. NEVER AGAIN (Source: @tomdeak7213 2024, np link)!

[In the UK, c]ompanies like Asos and Amazon hire pickers on a daily basis, through agencies of course so they are not force to give you a contract. There is always a supervisor behind your back and it makes you feel like a slave. A few months ago someone died in the Asos warehouse and they asked for the body to be covered while employees had to continue working. Its outrageous. The stress you get in a warehouse like that it should be illegal (Source: @andreeagheorghita7033 2024, np link).

Work conditions in the UK are shocking …. The law states you can work 6 hours before you are entitled to a 20 minute break. I work 4 12 hour shifts 4 on 4 off including weekends, bank hols and over Christmas. This isn’t isolated to other countries. Im on my feet for 12 hours working to targets and I get 30 minutes in a 12 hour day to eat (Source: @stargazer2019 2024, np link).

Please, look for another job… I know it’s not easy, but it’s not impossible. Don’t give them your precious life energy, they don’t deserve it (Source: @frusia123 2024, np link).

I’ve worked in factories where you get soaked and freezing cold all day, or it’s so hot you’re dripping in sweat, clean room environments etc. … jeez go cry a river ffs 😂 go and investigate UK factories and work conditions. Nurses are only getting 1 hour unpaid break in a 12 hour day… I get paid minimum wage, which is lower than what the government says I need to be able to live , I don’t get the living wage. I’m so over these british [TV] channels highlighting bad treatment in foreign countries whilst it happens under their blind noses here in the UK. Why else do you think UK factories are full of migrants (Source: @stargazer2019 2024, np link).

Your comment here was 3 months ago. 7 months ago you made a similar comment stating you got 30 minutes in 8 hours. Which is it? 8 or 12? I regularly had 30 minutes in a 9 hour shift. I wss entitled to 2x 30 minutes but was too busy to have a second break and didn’t need it. You sound like a youngster of today that complains about everything (Source: @superman267 2025, np link).

I work 11 to 12 hours without break, very often! Minimum wage, unpaid holidays, missing money etc etc… cant even call sick once a year ….. modern slavery (Source: @capmendonca 2024, np link)!

We have so many climate change levies and taxes, and we drive to net zero at enormous cost. What we should do is heavily tax everything that comes from countries like china that still have coal fired power and slave labour (Source: Its-1984-again 2024, np link).

This is the consequence of prices being driven lower and lower… Better to support businesses that pay a fair wage. … to workers and produce a qulaity product… Amazon etc and big supermarkets in UK & USA . …have been the main benificiaries… Race to the bottom (Source: James 1571 2024, np link).

There needs to be the same labour laws across the world. Otherwise it won’t change. Plus it will create more jobs in one’s own country (Source: @therealrantroom 2024, np link).

The worlds economy would collapse without hundreds of millions of ppl doing shtty jobs super cheap (Source: @HULLGRAFFITI 2024, np link).

then let it collapse (Source: @lukemclellan2141 2024, np link).

This, unfortunately, is part of the downward spiral of capitalism (Source: Miss Vinyl 2024, np link).

In my experience so far (I am 51 years old), the wealthier a company is, the shittier the work conditions are. I feel terrible for these people, this kind of stress – mental, physical, and emotional – is enough to slowly kill you. Hopefully, they can still choose another life (Source: @aurevoiralex, 2024 np link).

I worked for a huge company for years, thank goodness I’m 65 and retired, I feel guilty people have to work and I don’t (Source: @alfredpetrie7920 2024, np link).

The second a company needs an HR department, its time to leave (Source: @yamakaze4453 2025, np link).

It should be compulsory for every persons in management to spend a whole week on the assembly lines. Let’s see how they cope with eleven hour shifts burning their fingers, gluing 1500 dolls a day, no toilet breaks and 30 mins for lunch. If it turns out to be unacceptable for them at the end of the week, then why make it acceptable for their employees? To be fair, China is well known for its human rights records and the real slave drivers here are the factory bosses, however, Western companies are fully aware that low manufacturing costs come at a human price, and ultimately are responsible for their choices (Source: @DA-ee1xi 2024, np link).

This is disgraceful the money they make….. feel so sorry for the workers the bosses know these people need to work so they take advantage of them (Source: @AnnemarieDobson 2024, np link).

And we, at the end of the chain, grumble year after year about the lack of finish and quality (Source: Miss Vinyl 2024, np link).

Actually it’s better to put the energy of these people into making something useful for society not just little plastic things. That’s the real story behind this. The amount of energy used on that get played for only a few minutes then put in a drawer (Source: @XTSu-sl1bb 2025, np link).

I am a long time barbie fan and this makes me sad and angry. All this just for toys and toys that are very very poor quality compared compared the original products. If I can give up fast fashion, I can give up this too and buy from smaller more ethical businesses (Source: @aspiring… 2024, np link).

Up until today, and 29 minutes ago, I was a Barbie collector. I’m happy to not give Mattel another penny of my money (Source: @End_Orca_Captivity 2025, np link).

What absolute joke mattell is for a company. Its disgusting and thry should go bankrupt. I felt so bad for thr workers and the undercover man omg (Source: @kellydavid8328b 2025, np link).

What can we do other than be more tolerany of the product and radically boycott Barbie (Source: Miss Vinyl 2024, np link)?

Stop buying Mattel, we have the power (Source: @WJnes-n7u 2025, np link).

THANK YOU FOR BRINGING THIS TO OUR ATTENTION. THE WAY THEY TREAT THEIR STAFF IS JUST UNFORGIVABLE, I’LL NEVER PURCHASE ANOTHER MATEL PRODUCT. THAT‘S HOW I WILL PERSONALLY SUPPORT THEIR WORKERS CAUSE (Source: @cheryl5994 2024, np link).

But that leads to the issue of people losing what might be their only option for work. Better option is to involve yourself in campaigns and awareness around change. The jobs are bad but might be someone’s only lifeline … Personally, I’m not going to be responsible for destroying someone’s financial survival without thinking long and hard about it. Rarely do knee jerk reactions enact change (Source: @mrfluffyminstrel 2024, np link).

Ever since Covid I’ve tried not to buy Chinese goods. Admittedly, it’s very difficult at times to buy alternatives but I refuse to support the Chinese economy. I guess most people just don’t care enough to do the same, which is a real shame (Source: Rattlerbytes 2024, np link).

As consumers, we must question whether the products we purchase align with the values they claim to represent. In the case of Barbie, the cost of empowerment should not come at the expense of worker exploitation (Source: Feminegra 2024, np link).

We allow people to work in unsafe conditions pushing out a stream of plastic crap, which will be in landfill and forgotten in a flash. These products are pushed by huge companies like Mattel , backed by the idea that they are promoting an inspiring message, it’s awful how much of a contradiction this is (Source: @lucy-annedawson4849 2024, np link).

its sad children have to look at plastic made by slave labour to believe they can be what they want to be, a true failure of parents / generation (Source: @JDM-Chaser 2024, np link).

they go on about using less plastic but when it comes to barbie toys they dont care (Source: @stringer6435 2024, np link)!

I don’t think cardboard Barbie’s would have the same effect (Source: @tarawells1553 2024, np link).

The quality of the Barbie dolls have gone downhill too, the company clearly value profit over everything else (Source: @NotAnotherKuromia 2024, np link).

Yeah. Greed is hell of a drug (Source: @frusia123 2024, np link).

I was shocked to hear grown women saying that Barbie is a feminist – it’s a doll! Little girls should not be overwhelmed with pink. Giving Barbie a hearing aid doesn’t change the core message that how you look is all-important; rather it is a cynical marketing ploy. If you also consider the obscene amount of plastic and fuel this product consumes, I’m so glad that in my childhood we had a dolls’ hospital (Source: Banks in Hill 2024, p.143).

Im 51. It was Cindy’s [we played with] when I was kid (Source: @katdee8328 2024, np link).