Ad group slams Barbie tie-in with Girl Scouts

• Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood objects to Barbie %22participation patch.%22
• It also objects to website and booklet that links Barbie to Girl Scouts
• Girl Scouts says the tie-in %22teaches girls about inspiring women in a fun way%22

It's one thing for Barbie to strut her stuff on the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue in a sexy one-piece. But it's another thing entirely for world's most famous doll to show up on a Girl Scout patch.

Two consumer advocacy groups want the patch — and the commercial tie-in with Girl Scouts — nixed. While the patch does not show a Barbie doll, it shows the familiar Barbie logo.

"Holding Barbie, the quintessential fashion doll, up as a role model for Girl Scouts simultaneously sexualizes young girls, idealizes an impossible body type and undermines the Girl Scouts' vital mission," says Susan Linn, director of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. Another consumer group, Center for a New American Dream, is joining in the protest.

For the two consumer groups, the core issue is the commercialization of childhood. In an Internet age, kids already are riddled with commercial messaging all over Web pages, blogs and Facebook pages. But a growing number of marketers, eager to reach into the moments that most touch us and influence our daily lives, increasingly are blurring the lines between real life and commercialism.

Although the Barbie tie-in with Girl Scouts of the USA was announced last summer, the advocacy group says it's going public now with its complaint because private consultations with the Girl Scouts have failed to move the needle. "We waited to give them time to respond because we have so much respect for the Girl Scouts," says Linn. "But Barbie's recent appearance in the highly sexualized Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue really drives home how inappropriate the brand is as a model for young girls, particularly by an organization which is so respected as a leader in promoting girls' healthy development. "

Officials from Girl Scouts of the USA dispute the criticism. The tie-in "teaches girls about inspiring women in a fun way," says spokeswoman Kelly Parisi. "We stand behind this partnership, as it helps us bring to over 2 million Girl Scouts the message that they can do anything."

Mattel executives say Barbie and Girl Scouts are a natural fit. "Aligning with the Girl Scouts mission, Barbie has inspired girls' imaginations on their journey to self-discovery, allowing them to explore a world without limits," says Lisa McKnight, Mattel's senior vice president of marketing, North America, in a statement.

The specific patch that the consumer group objects to is the "Be Anything, Do Everything" participation patch that allows Girl Scouts and Daisies — girls in kindergarten through third grade — to explore career choices through an activity booklet that also has a Barbie tie-in. Linn says she also objects to that booklet and a website that links Barbie to Girl Scouts.

"It is particularly troubling that the youngest scouts are encouraged to wear a Barbie patch on their uniforms, transforming them into walking advertisements," says Linn. "While Mattel and the Barbie brand benefit enormously from the Girl Scouts' endorsement, the partnership harms girls."