Mattel launches Web 2.0 for Barbie Girls: Can't we do better than this?

Mattel have today announced what they're calling "the next generation of fashion doll play with Barbie Girls™, an unparalleled, hybrid play experience that blends fashion, music and an online virtual world."

I call it an invitation for the sick and the weird to log on and pretend to be little girls, personally, but here's what Mattel are offering.

Barbie Girls gives those who register access to an online world where they can decorate their room, earn and spend virtual money and chat. Chat can be monitored and "Secret" chat (PM) is only available to girls who know each other and have linked their computers by docking their Barbie Girl devices on each other's machines. Savvy security or a way of ensuring that parents buy into the second phase of Mattel marketing, the Barbie Girl MP3 device? Aren't there better things that little girls can be doing with their time?

The MP3 device is not particularly decent spec, having space for a mere 120 songs on its 512MB internal memory. An SD card slot allows expansion up to 2GB, however, though at further cost. The unit's fairly reasonable $60 price tag cannot do much about its cloying styling, but the average 7 year old probably thinks the more pink and plastic, the better. Hell, the average 27 year old can be tempted to think that.

Still, I can't imagine any self-respecting teenager buying into this, so the question is: do very young children need an introduction to the world of Web 2.0? Are the likes of Barbie Girl clever initiatives to funnel the amount of time children will inevitably spend on the computer into a harmless (if relatively unstimulating) environment? Or are they a cynical attempt to tempt children into playing grownups and adults into abandoning computer supervision through a possibly false sense of security?

I have, anyway, fairly strong views on children spending much less time on a computer than I do. Already there are so many ways for them to sit on their behinds instead of being active, imaginative, interested kids. Of course I think that computers are a good thing (given what I do, it'd be suicidal to think otherwise) and I think that through guided time on the computer at school and whilst researching homework, kids can learn an incredible amount and become the awe-worthy geeks of tomorrow. I think it's especially important to encourage girls into Computer Science degrees and into seeing technology as a valuable, useful and, yes, entertaining part of society. I just can't accept luring potential tech goddesses of the next generation into a pointless social networking world at an age when they should be learning that playing outdoor games is fun, messing about with arts and crafts is stimulating and creative and it is in fact a universal truth that boys smell.

I'm also not convinced by Mattel's insistence in their press release that Barbie Girls is a secure site. Not a day goes by without personal details being made available on the web either accidentally or deliberately and where vulnerable young girls are involved, this is a terrifying prospect.

To me Mattel are only doing what any sensible toy company would do and capitalising on an obviously emerging market as fast as they can. I don't blame them; I'd like to see parents take a stand and teach girls that technology is far more than just decorating your online room.

Alex is Deputy Editor of Shiny Shiny and she's going to enjoy the outdoors this weekend.