These last few months toy stores and stationery shops have been flooded with the trademark pink colour of the Fulla doll . I feel like there is a take over. The marketing is powerful and aggressive and even I have fallen prey to it and bought a few things. :)To be honest the products are really cute and what every little girl would want. Fulla is the Middle-Eastern Barbie, and I think she is a success.I'm not too pleased that some have chosen to label her as the 'Muslim' Barbie or doll. I don't think that is necesarily correct. Someone saw a niche/potential and created her. Arab kids are identifiying with her because she looks less foreign that is all.
The fact that there is an option to buy one with a hijab should not be alarming or taken as a hidden hint to encourage for doning hijab. It is simply a reflection of the realities we live in, yes there are many Muslims in the Arab world and yes many do wear a hijab. Moreover, Barbie is still available and I just bought Barbie branded watches and trainers for my nieces, but I also bought them Fulla dolls, clothes, notepads, pencils and beach accessories. Of course they adore the Fulla chewing gum :) and other products . Now there are Fulla clothes, I'm thinking if I can fit into the top I may get one for myself.
Newboy is the company manufacturing this doll, have a look on the left hand side to watch the running Fulla products ad - nothing related to Íslamic doll'. , a prayer mat does not mean the Talibans are coming , because a prayer mat is part of a Muslim household. Her advertisements are on Spacetoon a lot too. Spacetoon is a children's satellite channel with cartoons from all over the world , included are the American classics such as Tom & Jerry and Bugs Bunny and Japanese anime. My nieces love Barney and sing with him in ENGLISH even though they cannot speak the language. One of them keeps saying he has a cute *ss lol.
The above photo is that of my brand new Fulla check her clothes - quite stylish and look at the other dolls available too :) here on the right. The hijabi one is among 7 options!Fulla may not have a bikini , but so what ? nobody minds ( plus he he he the Barbie clothes fit her anyway ).
Moral : let's stop politicising everything and let the kids play.
Update 23-10-06
Check the clothes I bought for Fulla for the Eid
& also the collection I want :P
33 comments:
Enjoy :)
Oh thanks Leilouta :) she is so sexy too !
Thanks Lovelytripoli , I have not seen you commenting for a long time ! welcome and hope you had a nice Ramadan.
Leilouta, I watched that whole video... I was waiting for barbie to show up at the end and get in a "chick fight" with Fulla but no such luck :O
From the China Daily link:
Fulla is predictably Arab-looking (large brown eyes, dark hair) and distinctly anti-Barbie (smaller chest, wears a hijab).
Smaller chest is "arab looking" - is that really true!? I think maybe not :P
Highlander, you won't get away with this! Don't make us break out the Taliban Barbie secret weapon of mass assimilation!
Anyway, cute post Highlander and as usual you managed to make me interested in something I normally wouldn't care about, like dolls :)
I don't know how to play with a doll :lol: I used to fight with my brothers ! does that meen anything Doctor ?
Cute topic, and Leilouta thanks for the clip ;).
i don't think it's a political issue, it's more about making the dolls look more familiar for the kids, instead of playing with a blonde barbie wearing a "bikini", now they can play with a dark version "Fulla" wearing Hijab or alittle more conservative outfits!
I love Fulla song even I used as mobile tunes and other songs come from Spacetoon.
interesting post with nice add from Leilouta, Thanks all and wishing you happy Eid.
I have no idea if they have Fulla at the stores here, I haven't come across any, funny huh? I think the dolls are great, tan & not pale. I love your entry, puts a smile on my face.
out of context, a link with henné tatouages
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hennalounge/page4/
lovely
prayer mat does not mean the Talibans
Please dont equate the Taliban with Islam, equate them with Pashtun culture.
I think Highlander's "opponents" (the authors of the texts linked by her) show a hypersensitivity reaction to everything suspected to be "Islamic".
Reading them, I feel moderate! Doesn't happen often :).
Of course I don't like the headscarved Fulla version, but if in some countries only it is sold, the society is to blame, not the doll's manufacturers. Who would want to face complaints, customer boycotts, possibly lawsuits and being banned from the market? Besides, every mother can teach her daughter how to prepare a T-shirt and jeans for her Fulla.
Actually I like Fulla more than Barbie because the former is more like me :).
Of course I don't like the headscarved Fulla version, but if in some countries only it is sold, the society is to blame, not the doll's manufacturers. Who would want to face complaints, customer boycotts, possibly lawsuits and being banned from the market?
WOW. What a racist and islamophobe because we are Muslims all of a sudden their is something wrong with our society?
Yeah we know who's society has problems the fact that Muslim Albania is the only European nation which has a birthright to replenish itself speaks numbers about your society. Be happy liberated women, at the right you people are having children you next generation will not have to be bothered by Islam:)
Make a fulla for dudes.
He sould have a skull cap, a small beard, a klashankov, a t-shirt with a Islamic Cresent. A True Muslim male.
I agree with you, LW... How can Fulla compete with Barbie when there's no "Ken" !?
But, I'd suggest a big huge fat guy with no shirt, a Turban, those puffy balloon pants and the pointed curled shoes! Oh, and he should be a eunuch of course, to protect Fulla's chastity :P
But, I'd suggest a big huge fat guy with no shirt, a Turban, those puffy balloon pants and the pointed curled shoes! Oh, and he should be a eunuch of course, to protect Fulla's chastity :P
LOL. Yes craig maybe for the saudi version of Fulla for Dudes.
Have they made a Christian Fulla yet? I am sure the priests would go wild :)
Programmer_Craig :) by 'Arab looking' the Chinadaily meant the facial features not the body.Then he compares her to Barbie as being anti - that is the opposite. Here the Arab looking adjective does not relate. It is flat chested etc.. as opposed to the bustier Barbie :)
PS they are not competing they are complimentary Fulla and Barbie all about free markets & capitalism .
However, if with all this you meant to ask how are Arab women endowned I would confidently say thar most are quite well filled in that category and they have typical female figures, hips , bust , ass and the lot :)
Glad you liked the post.
As for those smartass readers who asked about my fitting in the Fulla top :P , I'm afraid it would be too small, I'm more Barbie than Fulla in that department .
Nomad if it makes you feel better I don't know how to play with a doll either :) I just collect them.
Maiuna , I agree with you , but some people as you've seen want to turn a doll into the 'clash of civilisations'.
Happy Eid to you too A.Adam, did not know the Fulla song was downloadable for mobiles . How and where please?
Redenclave :) I would be surprised if they did not have it in the stores , maybe you need to check the larger department stores ?
Libyan Warrior :) the Fulla doll is available with and without hijab to reflect the diversity in the ME, it is not about Pakistan or Albania.
I think from the links I read they will make a Fulla male :) since she is 16 he would be an older brother I guess.
Make a fulla for dudes.
He sould have a skull cap, a small beard, a klashankov, a t-shirt with a Islamic Cresent. A True Muslim male.
This is not a toy anymore but a propaganda weapon, is that how true Muslim men should look ? kalashinkove, beard and crescent t-shirt ? come one LW you are smarter than that ! Fulla guy wants to protect and care for her not scare her and her friends and cousins :P
LW It's not the food which makes for bigger busts its genetics :)
Welcome back Maya :) lol @you feeling moderate !
We are all wondering in which ways you resemble Fulla :P
Fulla,i was surrpiesing when i found all the kids loved it girls and boys buying her school tools,sweets have her pictuer,i think The children Programes worked so nice to do that..
when i went to sryay last year i saw Big stor only for fulla stuff,anything and everything.
i think one day mothers and fathers will get sick from full when they spend alot money for fulla dolls and her stuff.
i remeber when the families were so happy when Mbc3 opend and showed good programes for kids and after some months everything change they get sick from them kids,they stoling news times to watch MBC3..
also i remember when i was writing on one libyan newspaper about children games and tv programes ,i met alot fathers and mothers which they dislike all that.
Arabic families have alot ideas for them kids and they could change them ideas after a whole..
,hope you understand my point..
with my weak English
and happy eid for you all
hibo
Hi Hibo,
I understand your English just fine :)
I think maybe Fulla will last. Barbie has been around a long time, and there's no reason teh Fulla doll can't do as well.
I'm sending a check your way. Send me two for the girls. Barbie is a slut, she looks like Paris Hilton :)
Like Fulla, I have brown eyes, brown hair and small "chest" (the quotation marks indicate that either my English betrays me or some journalists are too politically correct, to write "chest" when actually meaning "breasts").
In fact, I don't think any living woman could resemble Barbie from the neck downwards - with legs longer than spider's, giant breasts and no place for the vital internal organs. I fully agree with what Dave Barry wrote at http://www.poly.rpi.edu/article_view.php3?view=3925&part=1
LW, accusations of racism, when coming from you, can only make people laugh. I've never seen anybody so obsessed with races and at the same time with calling others racists! You remind me the old joke, "The two things I hate most are racism and niggers".
Barbie? Fulla?
C´mon you guys, admit it! The most fun you ever had when playing with dolls can only have been....Chucky!
He and his bride are my all time favorits. After all, it´s all in the action!
http://www.oafe.net/shocka/art/mcmm2bc1.jpg
highlander
well suprising to find a post on dolls, only you could have everyone talking about dolls on a blog (smile)
also here in the UK there has been a lot of political rows over hijab recently, with one case of a woman suing for being fired for refusing to take the hijab off while teaching to children
as for the doll, not particularly a doll fan although those that think barbie is the only doll in west should look at this site here, my sister was a fan of these when she was younger
http://tinyurl.com/fs3ov
Happy Eid Highlander.
Isn't it funny how a doll can become such a focus of discussion. Barbie has been stirring controversy for decades now, I think it just about became acceptable again for girls to play with Barbie dolls when I was growing up in the eighties. We used to play "afgan resistance fighters" with our Barbies and poor Ken had to be the evil KGB agent;)
Alan K dude those dolls are wikid bro. lol. Your sis has got taste. My sis collected those ugly ass troll dolls, the ones that look like Kim Ill:)
LW It's not the food which makes for bigger busts its genetics :)
Wrong fat chicks have big tits. Genetics have something to do with it.
Fulla guy wants to protect and care for her not scare her and her friends and cousins :P
Well Higlander thats what the klashakov is for:) A real Muslim man with faith and a gun is someone who will protect fulla, and her friends, from American Soilders who wish to abuse her in women prisions. look at Abu-Grab-A-Arab. Thats what they do to the men, one can only imagine what these sick monsters do to women. A Armed Honest Godfearing Muslim male is not someone to fear beuase his religion teaches him to protect women and be kind to them.
This is not a toy anymore but a propaganda weapon,
And Barbie and ken are not a propoganda weopen? I beg to differ I have taken a course in Human Sexuality and the first subject we discuss is that of gender roles, and the conditioning of small children. Barbie is what a Little white Girl will grow up to be, and ken is what a little white boy will grow up to be. And take a look around at my generation and you will see that exactly what has happened. The minority boys and girls have their Brats dolls, the biys with the bagey pants, and the girl with the attitude, who dresses like a slut and has a mouth that would shock any platon of soilders and sailors on this earth. This here is a prime example of the propoganda tool, you cant question this becuase I am living this. Thank god, when I was a kid my mom bought me a Islamic Toy sword, and a Movie called Faith, at a Islamic Convention. It was a cartoon about Mehmet 2. I recently bought the dvd version, its awsome, you should but one too for any male relatives you haev. i turned out great becuase of it.
Watch the whole thing. The movie its amazing since the day my mom bought it for me I was hooked to Islamic history. The Link is below. this is what kids should be watching not will and grace.
http://darulislam.info/PagEd-index-topic_id-5-page_id-12.html
Saladin, Mhemet 2, Tariq Bin Zaid, these are MENS MEN, these are who little boys should inspire to be like.
I beg to differ I have taken a course in Human Sexuality
You're kidding, right? :D
Eid Mubarak Highlander to you and your family with my best wishes for a great holiday.
highlander , it's blutooth exchange ruls :)
"A male is genetically 2 times as complex in his genetic make up"?
If this is what one can "learn" in high school, I wonder what people become high school teachers nowadays.
Last time I checked, the only genetic thing men have and women haven't is the Y chromosome. One very small chromosome out of a set of 23 pairs.
You can see male and female chromosome sets compared at http://www.newbornscreening.info/Pro/genetics.html.
Homosexual men have Y chromosome, too.
what? no hijab? hahaha
Your Majesty LW, would you kindly inform slaves like me what you are studying? Because I cannot grasp it from your profile and your comments depict an expert in all fields. I used to live with the delusion that the last serious attempts to possess encyclopedic knowledge dated to the Renaissance.
I suggest that you submit your crucial discoveries about human genome to journal "Science". Or, if you refuse to contribute to evil US journals, try "Nature". It will really rock 'em!
(In fact, it's bees, ants and wasps in which the quantity of genetic material differs 2 times between sexes. But females have twice more chromosomes than males, not vise versa.)
of course Cro-magnon don't eat hormone stuffs :lol:
something tells me that our 2 hooligans are going to get involved :lol:
K from Oslo and Anglo Libyan , thank you for your good wishes. And I wish you all the best too.
Lovelytripoli, your English is just fine don't worry and the more you write the more you practice it :)
LW I'm not sure what course in human sexuality you took , but that information about male and female genetics is to say the least a bit erroneous. Maybe you could explain to me a bit more in details and send me some links I'd really be interrested ( not joking) because it is a bombshell for all those who want to prove that males are 'superior'to females. So sofar I'll have to agree with Maya :).
Safia, he he he thanks for that link.
AlanK :) I thought a post on dolls would be boring , but it seems not , I think I have the best readers in the whole blogosphere, they love a challenge and they love discussing all sorts of topics . Me proud of them.
Red, nope no hijab :P
Nomad :) motus et bouche cousue , jéspere que ca va passer :P
What is that crack about programmer's supposed to mean, peasant!? :P
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