structural:scholar_edition, linguistic:voice_change, information:highlighting, structural:summarization
Bad influence concerns

In July 1992, Mattel released Teen Talk Barbie, which spoke a number of phrases including "Will we ever have enough clothes?", "I love shopping!", and "Wanna have a pizza party?" Each doll was programmed to say four out of 270 possible phrases, so that no two given dolls were likely to be the same (the number of possible combinations is 270!/(266!4!) = 216,546,345). One of these 270 phrases was "Math class is tough!", which led to criticism from the American Association of University Women; about 1.5% of all the dolls sold said the phrase. The doll was often erroneously misattributed in the media as having said "Math is hard!" In October 1992, Mattel announced that Teen Talk Barbie would no longer say "Math class is tough!", and offered a swap to anyone who owned a doll that did.

In 2002, Mattel introduced a line of pregnant Midge (and baby) dolls, but this Happy Family line was quickly pulled from the market due to complaints that she promoted teen pregnancy, though Midge was supposed to be a married adult.

In September 2003, the Middle Eastern country of Saudi Arabia outlawed the sale of Barbie dolls and franchises, stating that they did not conform to the ideals of Islam. The Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice warned, "Jewish Barbie dolls, with their revealing clothes and shameful postures, accessories and tools are a symbol of decadence to the perverted West. Let us beware of her dangers and be careful." The 2003 Saudi ban was temporary. In Muslim-majority nations, there is an alternative doll called Fulla, which was introduced in November 2003 and is equivalent to Barbie, but is designed specifically to represent traditional Islamic values. Fulla is not manufactured by Mattel (although Mattel still licenses Fulla dolls and franchises for sale in certain markets), and (as of January 2021) the "Jewish" Barbie brand is still available in other Muslim -majority countries including Egypt and Indonesia. In Iran, the Sara and Dara dolls, which were introduced in March 2002, are available as an alternative to Barbie, even though they have not been as successful.

In November 2014, Mattel received criticism over the book I Can Be a Computer Engineer, which depicted Barbie as personally inept at computers, requiring her two male friends complete all of the necessary tasks to restore two laptops after she accidentally infects her and her sister's laptop with a malware -laced USB flash drive, before ultimately getting credit for recovering her sister's school project. Critics felt that the characterization of Barbie as a software designer lacking low-level technical skills was sexist, as other books in the I Can Be... series depicted Barbie as someone who was totally competent in those jobs and did not require outside assistance from others. Mattel later removed the book from sale on Amazon in response to the criticism, and the company released a " Computer Engineer Barbie " doll who was a game programmer rather than game designer.