At the end of October, a Moschino! Barbie “fauxmercial” was released on designer Jeremy Scott’s youtube channel. This 30 second ad went nearly unnoticed until November 16 when its views spiked to over one million.
Since the video went viral, news outlets around the world, as well as advocates of the LGBT community, have been featuring it, as well as showering Scott and the video itself with praises.
What makes this video so special? It’s not the dolls themselves nor the outfits they’re wearing, but the children playing with the dolls. Specifically, one male child.
According to Scott, the video was not meant to be a commercial at all, but a parody of iconic retro Barbie commercials, naming it a “fauxmercial.” The young boy in the commercial was meant to play the role of a young designer-to-be, Jeremy Scott himself.
Now as a wildly successful fashion designer, Scott can look back and say that Barbie’s were not merely dolls to him, but were his muse. Scott states that it was natural for him to choose to feature a boy in the commercial to represent not only himself, but all little boys who have ever loved to play with dolls.
The video is being praised all over social media as a way to challenge gender norms and break down stereotypes. This stance is being challenged by Scott himself, who claims that the spot is a way to celebrate both boys and girls alike playing with Barbie’s.
While it is groundbreaking for a Barbie spot to include, let alone feature, a young boy in one of its advertisements, is it really a challenge to society, or is it two companies supporting a cause years in the making?
After all, if the boy in the ad is meant to embody the role of Scott, haven’t some young boys been playing with dolls for decades? Hasn’t, therefore, the fight to challenge of gender stereotypes been decades in the making?
Haven’t we as a society embraced and upheld parents who allow and encourage their sons to dress up as princesses and their daughters to play with trucks, as opposed to shaming them and forcing them to adhere the societal expectations of gender norms?
Hasn’t loving your child, and all children for that matter, already taken the forefront as the new norm?
That isn’t to say that the message has been received by all people in all walks of life, but isn’t it more accurate to say that Scott and Moschino are contributing to the redefinition of gender norms, as opposed to challenging the establishment of sexist stereotypes.
Not only is the video a celebration of all children who love Barbie’s today as much as Scott and countless children did so many years ago, but it can also been seen as a celebration of the society who views the video today.
Isn’t the fact that the video has been met with so much praise a testament to how far we have come as a loving, accepting society? Of course we still have a ways to go, but we can take a minute and acknowledge the fact that the video has been met with overwhelming support and congratulate ourselves, as well as Scott, Moschino, and Barbie.
