Thursday, July 30, 2020

Girls Everywhere



Girls Everywhere

VP candidate for Party of Girls (2004)

Running mate with nominee: Barbie Millicent Roberts (b. 1959)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

It was the third Presidential campaign of Mattel's Barbie doll, but for the first time she ran under the banner of a political party, the Party of Girls. It was also the first time she had a running-mate, sort of. Her Vice-Presidential choice was "Girls Everywhere."

Barbie's platform was quite simple: "create world peace, help the homeless and poor, and take care of animals."

Mattel partnered with Toys R Us as part of the marketing campaign, even holding a Party of Girls "convention" in New York City in Aug. 2004. Another sponsor was a nonprofit called The White House Project. The pitch was that Candidate Barbie would encourage girls to seek leadership roles. Some critics through the years have pointed out that due to Barbie's surreal and unattainable physicality, her electioneering was sending mixed messages.

There were two problems with the Barbie/Girls Everywhere ticket in the event they won the election. First, Barbie herself was a plastic toy, i.e. not a sentient being. Secondly, the Vice-Presidency has the same age requirement as the President-- 35-- and by their very definition "Girls Everywhere" fall short of that. Also, there does not seem to be a provision for multiple people (especially millions of people) holding that office at the same time.

Election history: none

Other occupations: girls

Notes:
Whenever I went into the Barbie aisle of Toys R Us in the 1990s with my daughter it took my eyes some time to recover from the overwhelming barrage of hot pink.