Morning shows are the masters of two things: Jumping to conclusions, and whipping up a moral frenzy over absolutely nothing. Their big mum audience is perfect for generating coffee cup outrage all day long.
This morning Sunrise ‘family expert’ Dr Michael Carr-Gregg got stuck into a new fishnet flaunting Barbie doll. They labeled it Adult Barbie. ‘Totally amoral,’ ‘You can buy it in stores,’ ‘Outrageous,’ ‘B.M.I of 10 and unable to menstruate’ (yeah, I dunno either) — It’s ‘going too far’ Carr-Gregg screamed. What would the Pope think of it he asked!
Adult it was, but not for the reasons Sunrise or Carr-Gregg attacked it. The doll in question is a limited edition collectors item based on the superhero Black Canary. It’s part of a Barbie Famous Friends DC Comics series not sold in stores like Kmart or Toys’R’Us, but in specialty collector stores. Certainly not an item your kid is going to pickup on a shopping trip to Westfield.
Here’s what one online store selling it says:
‘Barbie Famous Friends Dc Black Canary Doll is an Urban-Collector pre-order. When Barbie visits Star City, she needn’t worry about crime when Dinah Lance, the Black Canary, is on the case! Mattel recreates the DC Comics’ heroine as a Barbie Famous Friends: Black Canary doll, which stands nearly 12′ tall. With her comics-authentic costume of black leather jacket, black fishnet stockings, and black thigh boots, Barbie’s friend Black Canary will keep the criminal element at bay!’
But Carr-Gregg says his barometer for these kinds of things is would you wear what the doll is wearing to work. Well that depends if I’m a superhero, Doc. They sometimes wear these things called costumes.
I don’t recall playing with many Batman figurines when I was kid where the caped crusader was dressed in a business shirt and tie.
Thankfully, one viewer emailed the show and pointed out that it was a collectors item intended for adults, not children. A couple of people also pointed it out on the Sunrise comments page.
Michael Carr-Gregg seems to have a grudge against the doll in general, but is that an excuse for sprouting off on Live tele without knowing or revealing all the facts?
