Barbie shamelessly takes to the mall.

Byline: Matt Cooper The Register-Guard

So what's on Barbie's mind these days?

The November election? Holes in the ozone? Stephen Hawking's recent reversal on subatomic theory?

Nope - she's looking for just the right pair of floral-design pumps.

The latest iteration of everybody's favorite anatomically improbable doll will hit the stores this month, and we do mean "hit the stores": The new "My Scene Shopping Spree" Barbie doll and her friends come loaded down with shopping bags from Levi's and fashion footwear retailer ALDO.

"Now girls can experience thrilling moments of running from store to store, including ALDO, with friends in search of the perfect gear with the new 'My Scene Shopping Spree' line from Mattel," a news release breathlessly announces.

A wonderfully shameless display of cross-branding is one thing. But a Barbie who pigeonholes girls in an antiquated stereotype?

"How do you spell 'ugh'?" asked Debbie Newman, a stand-up comic in Eugene. "But what are you going to do? That's what advertisers tell little girls they want: Little boys want to play with guns and little girls want to play with makeup. It's just not letting women be as much as they can be."

Mattel says "Shopping Spree" Barbie will set metropolitan fashion trends for dolls everywhere. But Newman, an office manager with Schnitzer Steel, would rather see the toy company introduce "Office Manager" Barbie.

"She'd be just crabby all the time," Newman said. "And outside her little Barbie office would be 17 people lined up needing something from her."

In a consumer-based economy, it's a bit naive, perhaps, to think that companies wouldn't hit on the idea of introducing kids to shopping by encouraging them to shop for a doll who shops.

Nor would one argue that shopping is inherently bad - for many families, it's a social activity, if not one of the few forms of exercise.

And it's not like the handheld mannequin has to show teenage girls and women how to shop.

Research indicates that 14- to 17-year-old girls and boys are among the most regular visitors to malls, along with young adults and senior citizens. And Amy Bresler, marketing manager at Valley River Center, said the average customer there is a 43-year-old woman.

Bresler sees nothing wrong with a Barbie and her bags of booty.

"Shopping is part of our everyday life," she said.

"Women in the world are primarily the ones that make the decision on what kind of car they're going to buy, what house they're going to buy. I don't think there's any negativity whatsoever in the choice they've made to have a shopper Barbie."

Bresler, 52, has an original Barbie - ponytail, black-and-white-striped swimsuit - and she believes the doll has changed with the times.

Now she'd like to see "Marketing Manager Barbie": "She would work with the media and have a broad understanding of advertising and demographics," Bresler said. "She would probably work long hours."

That characteristic would be shared by "Mayor Barbie," the doll dreamed up by Kitty Piercy, 62-year-old nominee for the post in Eugene.

Piercy, although absent the shopping gene, said she's OK with shopping Barbie ... as just one manifestation of the countless roles that women play in society.

"I'd like to see 'President Barbie,' ' she said. "I'd like to see Barbies in different sizes, shapes and colors, Barbies of different ages - and there's no limitation to what a Barbie can be or do."

Even if it means criticizing the government.

Sally Sheklow, a 53-year-old founding member of the Eugene women's comedy troupe, WYMPROV!, said "Improv Barbie" would have "a belly and a butt and hips, nipples."

"Improv Barbie" would use props and shop the garage sales, not ALDO, Sheklow said. Above all else, she would enjoy free license to speak her mind ... for laughs.

"She could get away with saying anything about the need for regime change without fear of repercussion," Sheklow said, "because she'd be a comic."

CAPTION(S):

"My Scene Shopping Spree" Barbie retails for $14.99.