Mattel puts the bling in Barbie

First there was My Scene – Mattel’s attempt to funkify Barbie and compete with MGA Entertainment’s ever-present Bratz dolls. Now, the company has gone full-on urban with its ‘hip-hop happening’ Flava dolls targeting 8- to 10-year-old girls. This crew of six friends has got the bling – the girls wear chunky jewelry and hair extensions, while the boys sport earrings and saggy cargo pants. The dolls also come in boxes wrapped in graffiti and photos of urban settings such as Los Angeles and New York. According to El Segundo, Calif.-based Mattel, Flavas are the ‘first reality-based fashion doll brand that celebrates teen culture through authentic style, attitude and values.’ The only thing missing is a crazy vehicle with the bouncing supension for the Flavas to ride around in.

Styling the store

Not getting enough traffic in your store? It could be that Mariah Carey blaring from the speakers is scaring the cool kids away. New York-based Activaire – a consortium of musicians, DJs, designers and architects – is helping the musically inept get the right vibe for their retail outlets by creating customized iPods filled with MP3s. Known as musical stylists, the group licenses music from independent electronica labels and provides custom playlists to hotels, boutiques and restaurants. The service costs US$100 for 30 hours of music and thus far, they have provided units to stores such as Issey Miyake and Marithe + Francois Girbaud in NYC.