Developer(s) Corina Rodriquez Platforms Android, iOS | Initial release date 6 January 2014 | |
Plastic Surgery & Plastic Doctor & Plastic Hospital Office for Barbie Version (also known as Plastic Surgery or Plastic Surgery for Barbara) is a mobile game for Android and iOS devices. The game, credited to "corina rodriquez [sic]" for its iOS version (listed as having been released on January 6, 2014) and Natalya Staritsyna on the Android version, rated as being appropriate for children ages 9 and up, features a simulation of plastic surgery, as the user performs liposuction on a female character named "Barbie" (who is seemingly unrelated to the Mattel-produced doll of the same name) or "Barbara" depending on the version.
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The game was pulled from the App Store and Google Play on January 14, 2014, following a successful Twitter campaign led by the Everyday Sexism Project, arguing that the game promoted a poor perception of ideal body image to those of a young age.
Gameplay
The game's description on the App Store reads "This unfortunate girl has so much extra weight that no diet can help her. In our clinic she can go through a surgery called liposuction that will make her slim and beautiful. We'll need to make small cuts on problem areas and suck out the extra fat. Will you operate her, doctor? [sic]" The game primarily involves tapping on certain areas of the body to make incisions and pump fat our of the character's body as part of the liposuction process. Following the surgery, the player can customize the character with different clothing and hair styles.
Reception
The game became a subject of criticism on January 14, 2014, when the Twitter account of the Everyday Sexism Project posted a screenshot of the game's page on the App Store captioned "Tweet @itunes if you think they should reconsider marketing this crap to players aged 9+". Its founder, Laura Bates, called upon Apple and Google to pull the game from their respective application stores, arguing that the game placed too much emphasis on body image for a product designed to appeal to young children (also noting the misapproriation of the "Barbie" name as a factor). She went on to say that "it is just so sad that we are sending that message to children as young as nine that the ideal body is all that they should be aiming for and that the way to get it is by cutting their bodies apart." Her campaign was supported by numerous other Twitter users, and her post was retweeted over 4000 times; users described the game as being "disgusting", and one user jokingly suggested that the game's developer should consider making a game that involves performing "post-fight rhinoplasty" on Action Man.
Later that day, both the iOS and Android versions of the app were pulled by the App Store and Google Play; however, a similar game under the title "Plastic Surgery for Barbara" (carrying a "12+" rating) was still available on the App Store as of then. A Mattel spokesperson indicated that the company was intending to investigate the game's use of the "Barbie" name.