Cool Shoppin' Barbie: Museum Object and Cultural History
Cool Shoppin' Barbie: Object Name: doll. Physical Description: vinyl (doll material). Physical Description: synthetic fibers (doll hair material).
The object in the museum catalogue
The American toy company Mattel manufactured and sold Cool Shoppin’ Barbie in 1997. The fashion doll came with her own clothing store that sold shirts, skirts, sunglasses, shoes, perfume, and purses and had a cash register, bar code scanner, and credit card reader. Barbie had her own MasterCard, and would say “credit approved” when a button was pushed.
Parents and consumer advocates complained that Barbie should not encourage excessive spending and credit debt or advertise the MasterCard brand to young children. While Cool Shoppin’ Barbie sold well during the 1997 holiday season, the contract between Barbie and MasterCard was not renewed the next year—making the toy a sought after collectible.
Materials, dates and provenance
- Object Name: doll
- Physical Description: vinyl (doll material)
- Physical Description: synthetic fibers (doll hair material)
- Measurements: overall: 12 1/2 in x 5 1/4 in x 4 in; 31.75 cm x 13.335 cm x 10.16 cm
- ID Number: 2013.3116.01
- nonaccession number: 2013.3116
- catalog number: 2013.3116.01
- accession number: 2013.3116
- Data Source: National Museum of American History
Sources and reuse
Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.
Sources
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