E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSThese gentlemen take playing with dolls to a whole new, and competitive, level.
Carlos Garcia Rawlins / Reuters
A contestant combs his Barbie doll, "Shantal Martinez Gruber" before entering the doll in the Miss Barbie Venezuela 2010 beauty pageant as "Miss Guarico" in Caracas on Dec. 9. Contestants adorn their dolls, who all have their own names, body measurements and even invented professions, with make-up and the latest fashions in the hope of winning the Miss Barbie Venezuela title and progressing through to the Miss Barbie Universe contest.
Carlos Garcia Rawlins / Reuters
Ricardo Mendible changes the clothes of his Barbie doll, "Gabriella Isabella Del Rosario Medina Acosta" before entering the doll in the Miss Barbie Venezuela 2010 beauty pageant as "Miss Apure" in Caracas on De. 11.
Carlos Garcia Rawlins / Reuters
Ricardo Mendible presents his Barbie doll, "Gabriella Isabella Del Rosario Medina Acosta" entering the competition as "Miss Apure" to the judges during the Miss Barbie Venezuela 2010 beauty pageant in Caracas on Dec. 11.
Carlos Garcia Rawlins / Reuters
A contestant places his Barbie doll on a table during the Miss Barbie Venezuela 2010 beauty pageant in Caracas Dec. 11.
Carlos Garcia Rawlins / Reuters
Jose Sanchez, organizer and host of the Miss Barbie Venezuela 2010 beauty pageant places ken dolls on the stage during the contest in Caracas Dec. 11.
Designers and Barbie doll fanatics compete with their adorned dolls in Venezuela's Miss Barbie contest. TODAYshow.com's Dara Brown reports.
Leave a Comment:
Now that is down-right creepy!
Weird - I don't know what to say. Please tell me its left over from some ancient vodoo cult or something. I don't know why but it would make more sense if they stuck pins in little wood statues.
something very wrong is going on in south america
I never cease to be fascinated with human behavior. Hopefully this trend won't come North.
There should be a well needed follow-up by Chris Hansen and the Dateline crew to see what is making these guys tick!
Totally weird and kind of sick actually. Was Barbie oiled?
Wow, these people need a life. Has life in South American become so bad that this is their escape? You read about the corruption, cartels, drug lords, and poverty but this is downright creepsville.
How strange...and how creepy.
I don't think this is any creepier than oiling up five year olds, sticking veneers in their mouths, and extensions in their hair, to have them parade across a stage for adults.
Also, our country is overrun by Snooki and have you heard of the newest reality show treat, Bridalplasty?
Maybe a pageant with Barbie dolls is a little strange past the age of 10, but South America isn't going to cause the fall of western civilization. I believe we are the forerunners for that auspicious title.
Amen, Ella - you said it all!
There are many designers being compensated very well for creating fashions for Barbie and like-sized fashion dolls. Many can take a $25 doll and command nearly $500 after they've "transformed" her.
Don't you just love the way global value systems are moving.........there is a HUGE retail company , I'll refrain from naming it that I visited recently (heels dragging deeply into the ground...I was with others). That had hundreds and hundreds of multi hundred dollar dolls with racks of clothing and accessories....it gets worse....there was a "styling center" where dolls were sitting in beauty parlor chairs having their hair done (by God help them.....actual people).......there was a "medical center" in the store for broken dolls that had a reception area like a hospital and a waiting room and (God help her, some lady in the reception area that looked like a nurse).......and a restaurant, where the dolls and people sat together at the table......talk about a creep out!..........whats worse? it was jam packed and the cash registers were going clickity clackity clickity clackity to the thousands. I don't know, personally my mind right now is on some poor military guy in some godforsaken place without his family at Christmas........
FWIW: That huge retail company is actually now a division of Mattel, makers of Barbie. So your point has weight. We already do this for those dolls. What your comment doesn't do is make a distinction between the fact that said company whose flagship store you visited is geared toward little girls and the Barbie pageant seems to only have grown men participating. That's what makes it slightly bizarre.
point well taken Jen thanks
Well , coming from a country where cocaine is 5 bucks a pound I think I can almost understand . Almost .
When I first saw the head line I thought why would there be a pageant for Babie dolls. I thought it would be little girls with their dolls but these are grown men. OMG!!! It kind of leaves you speachless. Please keep those men away from the children.
I do have to agree with Ella-895218 that dressing up real 5 year old girls for beauty pageants is just as creepy. All that is just wrong. There are a lot of strange things in this world in every country and this is one of them.
I attended one of those Jean Benet type of pageants with the same small group that took me to that creepout dollstore. ( I need to rethink that particular group of acquaintances :-) ) It was some horrorfest of 3 to 5 year olds in hiked up skirts, high heels, cotton candy poofy hair, red lipstick and eye makeup...dancing around to weird songs.....I was amazed they didn't have a "bathing suit contest" (at which point I would have fled and called the police) I hate to say it but most of the mom's in the audience looked just like them.
Honey, seriously. I don't think these men are interested in children.
I think you are right on that point Jen, the specific article is more an "roflol you must be kidding me" article....I strayed off the specific topic into general value systems with the dollstore creepout and the pageant creepout.
What? Are they kiddin ? ROFL
I honestly don't see what the big deal is. It's pretty much just a glorified RPG, if you think about it, and is certainly much less bad then a lot of other things that go on. So some guys make doll clothes, so what? Its not like its child pornography or something.
Well, when you can't afford the real thing dolls are much less expensive. They don't talk back, fight, rip their clothes off, or cry when they don't win. So I say, You go Barbie.
To each their own, I guess...but this is really freaking creepy.
This is a hobby for someone who has a lot of time on their hands. I don't think Barbie pageants are creepy like pre-schoolers traipsing around for adults to gaga over, up and down...that is so close to porn, it should be illegal. I wonder if Jon Benet would still be alive if she hadn't been in pageants? Still unsolved, it could have been a perv that beat off watching tapes of these children. When he went to Jon Benet's house, he raped and killed her. I'm sure that hasn't been ruled out, but whoever it was has gotten away with it. eeeew!