Nearly 50 years old, Barbie bounces back

It's a strategy that works with this generation of girls and their moms — many of whom also grew up playing with Barbie — says Marian Salzman, a trend-watcher and chief marketing officer for advertising firm JWT Worldwide.

"Her look is more in than out again _ Pamela Anderson, Anna Nicole Smith, Victoria Beckham. They all bring with them in your face glamour," Salzman says. "And that's a nice balance to the traditionalism of it being Barbie.

"So it's a chance for kids and moms to experience nostalgia ... and just enough nastiness to be 2006."

Mattel also has tried to position Barbie as a "a blank palette," Salzman says, allowing her to appeal to a wide range of girls.

On Barbie's Web site, girls are encouraged to "B who U wanna B — B-a-r-b-i-e," whether it's a "fashionista," a "gamer" or a "princess."

It's that universal feel that appealed to Leah Appel when she played with Barbie as a kid.

"Yes, she is 'perfect Barbie.' But when I was a little kid, I didn't see it that way," says Appel, a 22-year-old photographer in Washington, D.C. "I pretended she was whoever _ she was my friend, Barbie."

Her fascination with Barbie prompted her to create photographs depicting life-sized Barbie doing everyday things — among them, sitting on a toilet or eating at a fast-food restaurant.

Of course, there are those who still see Barbie as promoting a narrow beauty ideal — blonde, blue-eyed and stick-thin.

"We're living today in a hyper-competitive society where there's a tremendous amount of pressure on kids to be perfect — to be dominant, to win," says Jessie Klein, an assistant professor of sociology who studies gender issues at Adelphi University in Garden City, N.Y. "In this atmosphere, it makes sense that girls would be interested in Barbie."

It's caused some Barbie fans to second-guess themselves.

"When I have a daughter, I can't help but truly wonder if I should advocate Barbie as much as my mother did," says Gigi Gallinger-Dennis, a 29-year-old San Francisco resident who received a tan Malibu Barbie at age 2.

Chuck Scothon, a senior vice president who oversees girls' products at Mattel, is aware that Barbie can be controversial. But he says the company will continue to take its cues from girls — not adults — when deciding how to change or market the doll.

"We should let them be kids," he says, "and enjoy a doll."

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