June 2, 1999
CAIRO JOURNAL
It's Barbie vs. Laila and Sara in Mideast Culture War
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By DOUGLAS JEHL
AIRO, Egypt -- It's not just that she's a blue-eyed blonde. Nor
is it just the revealing clothes that show off her famous figure.
The real trouble is that Barbie has a boyfriend.
To put it plainly, that plastic icon of Western girlhood is seen
in the Middle East, where modesty matters, as something of a tramp.
As a better role model, children's advocates across the region
are now staking their hopes on Laila and Sara, dark-haired,
dark-eyed dolls who wouldn't be caught dead in a miniskirt and
whose idea of a good time is hanging out with their brothers, not
hopping into that vacation camper with Ken.
"Barbie wears a bikini and drinks champagne," said Dr. Abla
Ibrahiem, an official at the Cairo-based Arab League who has headed
the drive to develop one of the new dolls. "We need to prevent our
children from feeling torn between their Arab traditions and the
life style that Barbie represents."
In capitals like Cairo and Tehran, many parents, who have grown
tired of shelling out between $30 and $150 for imported Barbies
that set the wrong examples, say they agree.
"It is hard to explain to the kid just who that man is in
Barbie's life," said Jihan Abdel Aal, a Cairo television producer
who is the mother of a 7-year-old girl.
Hanaa Maamoun, an interior designer who is the mother of an
8-year-old daughter, said she looks forward to the introduction of
"a doll who looks like my girl, with dark hair and dark eyes -- an
Egyptian doll with an Egyptian spirit."
"My daughter wants to wear high heels and miniskirts like
Barbie's," Mrs. Maamoun said. "Of course I buy them, but I also
tell her than when she is grown up, she should not wear clothes
like that. It really is a horrible culture gap."
It used to be that censorship was the preferred method in the
Middle East of fending away what was seen as a corrupting Western
culture. Even today, in much of the region, films, books and
magazines are routinely subjected to a thorough scrub by government
censors; in some countries, even Internet use is policed.
What is new in the tale of Barbie and her rivals is that instead
of banning what is no longer wanted, Middle East governments have
poured resources into the development of alternatives -- and plan to
peddle the new, non-Western dolls with modern, Western-style
marketing techniques.
Iran, an Islamic republic whose leaders have long shunned
Western ways, is the home of the first project -- the introduction
(but not, of course, the unveiling) of Sara, who, in compliance
with the country's strict dress codes, would be covered from head
to toe in a severe black chador.
The Iranian government first spoke of the idea three years ago,
but the doll's debut has been delayed until later this year, so
that it can be linked to a Hollywood-style merchandising blitz of
films, cartoons, music and storybooks, said Majid Ghaderi, of the
government's Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children
and Young Adults.
The delay hasn't sapped the anticipation of Iranian parents,
like those who stop in regularly at the Uncle New Year toy store, a
leading shop in downtown Tehran, ask whether Sara and her brother
Dara have arrived on the market, said Farshid Favili, the owner's
son.
Cairo is the home of the other project, introducing Laila,
styled by Ibrahiem, the Arab League official, as a "representative
Arab girl."
Since it decided last October to go forward with the project,
the 22-member Arab League has conducted feasibility studies to
persuade investors that there will be a lucrative market for the
doll in all of the member countries, which range geographically
from Mauritania to Iraq but do not include non-Arab Iran.
The doll is to be manufactured privately, beginning sometime
next year, once the Arab League chooses among several bidders. But
the organization has already market-tested the name (Laila, a
non-religious moniker, is thought likely to appeal to both
Christians and Muslims), the costumes (along with modern,
Western-style outfits, they are to include traditional folkloric
dress from Egypt, Syria, Palestinian areas, North Africa and the
Persian Gulf region), the concept of a brother (still to be named)
as best friend, and the very idea of what a "representative Arab
girl" should look like.'
In contrast to the decidedly post-pubescent Barbie, Laila is to
be a girl somewhere between 10 and 12 years in age, with big black
eyes, long lashes, pink cheeks, full lips and wavy black hair.
Instead of bras and bikini panties, Ibrahiem said, she will wear
children's underwear. In her Western-style clothing, Laila will
show more skin than the chador-draped Sara. But by Barbie's
standards, she will be an emblem of modesty.
"This will be a doll with decent clothes and a brother, not a
boyfriend," Ibrahiem said.
Until now, dolls meant to look like the people who live here
have been scarce in the Middle East, in large part because few toys
are produced in the region. The prohibitive cost of imported raw
materials, usually subject to high duties, has usually made it more
economical for retailers to import finished goods, toy store owners
say.
But Egyptian and Iranian officials said subsidies and exemptions
would allow them to sell Laila and Sara for as little as $10 -- not
cheap by the standards of an impoverished region, but a bargain
compared with Barbie. The bigger obstacle may be whether marketing
alone can overpower Western standards of beauty that are already
entrenched even among pre-teens.
After all, it is not just Barbie, but American television shows
like "Baywatch" -- available by satellite -- that continue to set a
kind of worldwide standard.
"She is my best friend," said Nada Hamid, 7, of her Barbie.
For an Egyptian girl, Nada's hair, a curly brown, is light in
color, but Nada said she wished it were lighter. "I want my hair
to be shiny and golden, too."
