Everyone knows the classic Minnie Mouse as being a short, full character that is fun loving and child appropriate. Growing up with her, we have never seen any variation of her in at least the last 20 years except for the computer generated version she was latest updated to but still looks very similar to the cartoon, 2D version. Barney's has proposed/already campaigned to have her on the runway with a taller, lanky version of her and there have been people to have protested this. Personally, I love the idea of having Minnie and other characters dramaticized to these images. It's like someone's artistic perception of her and doesn't damage her likeness in anyway. Yes, I know you must be thinking that I don't promote anorexia and people going to extreme measures to create their body image, but I think that these are completely separate for the fact Minnie is a cartoon character and young children identify with a cartoon characters but not to the same extent as people who actually exist in their lives. I am not discouraging parents to not allow their children to believe cartoon characters are real, but to the same extent, they aren't as tangible. Barney's isn't targeting a younger audience, so it seems that these protestors don't really have an argument. This campaign is for an older target market and people who have seen Minnie Mouse before and know she doesn't really look like this. Furthermore, we have allowed the creators of "Once Upon a Time" to change the ideas and concepts of our traditional fairy tales, so allowing Barney's of New York to have a different perception of Minnie. I loved what they did with Gaga's Workshop and was looking forward to this year's campaign.
Check it out for yourself:
http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-talk/skinny-minnie-mouse-inspires-petition-194641110.html
