And so Barbie Fashion Designer lingered in marketing equilibrium for a bit before Mattel had an idea: a TV commercial targeting both parents and children.
But its hot-pink box stuck out in the software aisle, a place marketers had figured girls didn’t venture into anyway.
Yes, it was Barbie, but it didn’t make sense for a computer game to sit alongside actual dolls. Over in the software aisle, retailers pushed back against the title, unsure of where to put it. It’s after Barbie Fashion Designer that major game companies and marketers realized there is money to be made with so-called “girl games.” The success was hard-won, though.
Float into our DreamHouse: Barbie World is Polygon’s dive into everything Barbie, from her legacy as an iconic toy to her presence in games and movies.īarbie Fashion Designer was one of the first commercially successful video games marketed specifically to little girls - a game that’s now credited for kicking off the “games for girls” movement.
