Mattel, the makers of Barbie, have done a massive u-turn on their opinions of Aqua’s ‘Barbie Girl’! Twelve years ago, they unsuccessfully tried to sue the band and their record label for using the Barbie name in their 5 million selling hit. After a lengthy and high profile court case the judge eventually dismissed Mattel’s claims, on the grounds that Aqua’s song was a parody. It highlighted the sheer idiocy and arrogance of Mattel. Aqua’s ‘Barbie Girl’ was literally the most popular song in the world for a few months, with everyone humming the Barbie themed chorus whether they wanted to or not. But rather than capitalising on the renewed fame of their brand, Mattel took objection to it – and tried to sue them. My oh my!
Twelve years later though, they’ve gone crawling back to Aqua (they would have had to have obtained Claus and Soren’s permission to change the lyrics that they did) and asked them if they could record a cover version of ‘Barbie Girl’ to promote their new range of flexible fashionista dolls. The Karma in all of this? It sounds fucking shit compared to Aqua’s original!!!
