Tread lightly on America's icons is a lesson China Barbie, the porn purveyor, is learning from Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT), the owner of the Barbie brand. The company has gone to court to force the adult entertainer to take down her pay-to-play site, claiming China Barbie is taking advantage of the toy's name in order to peddle her 'wares.' The differences between the real Barbie and China Barbie, however, cause me to wonder just how real is the potential for confusion. For example, China Barbie claims to have escaped the drudgery of investment banking to star in such classics as Me Luv You Long Time, Extreme Teen 15, and Ethnic Cheerleaders 8. Barbie's latest flick, Barbie as The Island Princess, is a musical suitable for the whole family.
China Barbie, according to the movie database IMDb, was born in New York City in 1978, while Barbie entered the world back in 1959, certainly far too long ago to get a casting call for Extreme Teen movies. Barbie is noted for her fun-loving but chaste lifestyle, while CB's films leave no doubt that she is anything but maidenly. China Barbie's dad was Jamaican, her mother Chinese. Barbie Millicent Roberts is the daughter of ultra-white parents Robert and Margareth Roberts of Willow, Wisconsin.
And we all know that the real Barbie would rather stick her head in her toy oven than ever voice the grammatically incorrect, "Me Love You Long Time."
update: Apparently, the threat has worked, as chinabarbie.com went down as fast as, well, China Barbie ...
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