Tattooed Barbie? What Do YOU Think?

I was lying in bed when my husband told me the news.  “Barbie has a tattoo now,” he said. 

I put down my book. “Stop it.  She does not.”

“That’s what I’m hearing,” he insisted and he held up the radio he keeps by his ear through the night, giving it a little shake. 

I grabbed the iPad and googled.  It was true.  Tokidoki, the Japanese-inspired lifestyle brand of all things doe-eyed, is marketing a Tokidoki Barbie replete with pink hair, leopard leggings and body art. 

Yes, I was taken aback with the news, but it was only because I immediately pictured some tentacled, green calligraphy at the base of her spine.  Barbie’s tattoos are not that at all.

Her tattoos drape around her neck and shoulder like a gossamer shawl.  They look like elaborate face-painting and project none of the heightened sense of danger or sexuality that I always seem to ascribe to the tattooed.

To me, this Barbie is super sweet-looking.  I see more menacing individuals when I go to the bagel store.  But she seems to be bringing up some long-neglected feelings about the rights and righteousness of skin décor.  Despite the fact that the doll is ostensibly being marketed to adults as a collector’s item, some people, it seems, can’t help feeling that Tokidoki Barbie is sending a bad message to children. 

In fact, a reporter from when she wrote a story about the controversy. 

“With the commercialization of the tattoo-sporting Barbie, one angry parent said the doll might as well have "a cigarette in one hand and a beer in the other,"  said the article.  “Others are pleased with the new doll because they say they finally have a toy that represents a growing segment, those who enjoy a tattoo or two.”

What do you think of a tattooed Barbie?  Would you buy this doll for your child?  Take our poll or tell us in the comments.