Thanks to a faithful listener, we were able to check out reports of a Barbie Ouija board which are appearing on various social media sites and made a few surprising discoveries about these claims.
There is indeed a Barbie Ouija board, but it’s not a full-size board. It’s a miniature Ouija board that is meant to be used as a kind of accessory by the doll. The tiny bright pink board is boldly labeled “Barbie Ouija” and has the traditional alphabet along with two Barbie figures in the upper right and upper left corners with the words “Totally Yes” and “Totally No.”
According to Snopes, neither Mattel, who owns the Barbie brand nor Hasbro, which owns the Ouija trademark, produce a Barbie-themed Ouija board. The maker of this little board is an Industrial Designer and Visual Artist named Servando Hernandez who is based in Mexico City. Hernandez goes by the handle @livinplastic on Instagram and frequently shares images of Barbie dolls. The 2020 Instagram post that featured the board included the hashtag #notanofficialproduct. The tiny boards are sold on the LivinPlasticStore Etsy sales page.
As Hernandez explains to Snopes, the board “belongs to a series of objects created by me. I like to decontextualize Barbie and put her into situations and objects that are not commonly associated with her or bring them to real life.”
For all of the above reasons, Snopes has declared this story about a Barbie Ouija to be “mostly false.”
While we can be relieved that rivals Hasbro and Mattel haven’t linked forces to produce a Barbie Ouija, we do have to be aware of the fact that should Barbie want to “play” with her board, her owner will have to place her fingers on the tiny planchette which will inadvertently encourage the use of this “game” by little girls.
Needless to say, the discerning parent should pass on the Barbie accessory.
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