Teen Talk Barbie

Mattel unveiled Teen Talk Barbie at the 1992 American International Toy Fair and put her on sale that July. Each doll had a voice box loaded with four phrases drawn at random from a pool of 270, so no two boxes were quite alike: "Will we ever have enough clothes?", "Let's plan our dream wedding!", "Wanna have a pizza party?", "Okay, meet me at the mall," but also "I'm studying to be a doctor." About 350,000 were made. One phrase in the pool was "Math class is tough."

That one landed badly. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics objected, and the American Association of University Women, which had just published a report on how girls were being shortchanged in math and science, said the line could undermine girls' confidence in the subject. Mattel first offered to swap dolls for non-talking ones on request; that October it agreed to drop the phrase from future production, so the chip would pick from 269 selections, offered an exchange to anyone whose doll said it, and apologized to the AAUW. A spokesperson noted that only one trade-in had actually been requested in three weeks. An estimated 3,500 dolls carry the phrase, and by 2005 collectors were paying around $500 for one.

The joke outlived the doll. In 1994 The Simpsons aired "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy," with Lisa horrified by a doll that says thinking too much gives you wrinkles. And in 1993 a group of East Village performance artists calling themselves the Barbie Liberation Organization bought some 300 Teen Talk Barbies and Hasbro's Talking Duke G.I. Joes, swapped their voice boxes, and slipped them back onto store shelves in New York and California. Barbie now growled "Eat lead, Cobra!" and "Vengeance is mine!", while Joe wanted to go shopping.