Barbies, Models, And The Uncanny Valley

By Lisa Wade, PhD  |  March 17, 2010 | 7:20pm
Latest

This Barbie ad, originally appearing in Grazia magazine, might throw you off a little bit. These dolls look a little a different.

Sarah Barnes, who blogs at Uplift, found herself surprised, she explains, because it took a minute for it to sink in that the dolls weren’t real people…

She explains:

In a time when everything is photoshopped to such disastrous levels, there really isn’t that much difference between a Ralph Lauren advert using a real model and an ASOS ad using Barbies. When fashion just has to be seen on ‘perfect’ women, we are becoming used to seeing a Barbie-like cookie cutter version of what women look like in our magazines.
So, this is why I screamed. Because, for a second there, I thought the Barbies were real women.

Do they freak you out a bit?

This post originally appeared on Sociological Images. Syndicated with permission.

More online sociology from Sociological Images.

 
Join the discussion...