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A Barbie doll is seen inside the FAO Schwartz toy store in New York, March 9, 2009.
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Barbie is having a hard time winning the hearts of Japanese children, so she's trying to charm grown-ups instead with a bridal collection full of bows, ruffles and gowns embroidered with the doll's logo.
The Barbie Bridal line, available in June, will only be sold in Japan, and is part Mattel Inc's attempts to bolster the Barbie brand in a country where the toy doll market is ruled by local rival Licca-chan.
"What's unique about Japan is that it's a very strong adult-apparel market," John Cullen, vice president of Mattel Brands, told the reporters during a visit to Tokyo to attend celebrations for Barbie's 50th birthday.
"We want to be where girls are... we want to create a fashion brand that appeals to girls in all generations," he added.
The bridal collection joins other clothing lines for adults that are only in sale in Japan such as the Barbie Golf collection.
Last year, a limited-edition collection of Barbie clothes and accessories by U.S. celebrity stylist Patricia Field, known for her work on hit TV series "Sex and the City" and "Ugly Betty," went on sale in Japan.
Cullen said Mattel was aiming to introduce more Barbie licensed products such as stationery and cosmetics in Japan as early as next year.
"Once our apparel brand is established, then we can go back to our core target, kids," he said, describing Mattel's business targeting Japanese adults "growing."
Despite Japan being one of the largest toy markets in the world, Mattel has always had a hard time marketing Barbie partly due to Tomy Co's Licca-chan, which has a Japanese body-type and facial features.
Barbie, with her Western looks and that infamously unrealistic body, was initially made in Japan and has sold some 1 billion units worldwide since she first hit U.S. shelves in 1959.
Licca-chan has sold 53 million units, mostly in Japan, in the past 42 years and her popularity has prompted companies such as Nissan Motor and East Japan Railway (JR East) use the doll in corporate and product promotions.
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(Agencies)
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芭比娃娃似乎很難博得日本兒童的歡心，所以她打算吸引成年人的目光——一款包括領結、褶皺邊和飾有芭比標識的禮服的芭比新娘系列不久將進軍日本市場。
將于今年6月上市的芭比新娘系列將僅在日本銷售。該系列的推出是芭比的“東家”美泰公司在日本市場推廣芭比品牌舉措的一部分。日本玩偶市場一直被當地競爭對手麗嘉娃娃占據。
美泰公司品牌部副總監約翰?庫倫在東京參加芭比50周歲慶典期間接受記者采訪時說：“日本的特殊之處在于其成年人服飾市場十分強大。”
他說：“哪里有女孩，我們就去哪里，我們希望打造一個每一代女孩都喜歡的時尚品牌。”
除新娘禮服系列外，還有其它一些僅在日本銷售的芭比成年人服飾系列，如芭比高爾夫系列。
去年，一款由美國著名造型師帕特麗夏?菲爾德設計的芭比服飾和飾品限量版系列在日本銷售。帕特麗夏曾為熱映電視劇《欲望都市》和《丑女貝蒂》擔綱造型指導。
庫倫稱，美泰公司最早將于明年在日本推出更多芭比品牌系列產品，如文具和化妝品等。
他說：“一旦我們的成年人服飾品牌站穩腳跟，我們將回頭去開發我們的核心顧客群---兒童。”他稱美泰公司針對日本成年人的業務“不斷擴大”。
盡管日本是世界最大的玩具市場之一，但美泰公司在日本推廣芭比娃娃卻舉步維艱，這一部分是由于來自多美公司生產的具有日本人體貌特征的麗嘉娃娃的競爭。
自1959年在美國上架銷售以來，芭比娃娃在全球范圍內銷量已達約10億個。芭比娃娃最初在日本制造，她有著西方人的外表，其不切實際的魔鬼身材曾遭到異議。
在過去42年中，麗嘉娃娃全球總銷量為5300萬個，其中大部分是在日本本土市場。她的人氣吸引了日產汽車公司和東日本鐵路公司等眾多商家用它來推廣公司和產品。
相關閱讀：
芭比娃娃“五十知天命”
伊朗高官：芭比娃娃破壞社會文化
圣誕禮物大調查：女孩最愛芭比娃娃
（實習生許雅寧 英語點津姍姍編輯）
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