Journal articles on the topic 'Droi européen des contrats commerciaux'

Abstract: This paper discusses arguments in favour and against the legal basis of the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament (EP) and the Council on a Common European Sales Law (CESL), published as COM(2011) 635 final of 11 October 2011. It considers the international private law as well as some individual substantive rules of both the Regulation and the actual Sales Law. Suggestions are made on how to adjust and complement this instrument in order to achieve what the European Union (EU) legislator is setting out to do and indeed what the legal and trading community, including consumers, need. Central problems with the proposal are found to be the intended exclusive role of CESL in relation to existing transnational rules of international commercial contracts and the weakly identified reasons for there being separate regimes for consumers and merchants in the first place. Both consumer and commercial contracts have specific characteristics and requirements that need legislative attention within the EU and beyond but that have not been carved out sufficiently by legal doctrine yet. Further research into the contents of typical consumer and merchant contracts, both formal and substantive in nature, is therefore needed. A consolidated and possibly separate and mandatory consumer law for the Common Market could then be tailored in a more integrated and convincing way. Résumé: Le présent article présente les arguments pour et contre du fondement juridique de la Proposition de Réglementation du Parlement Européen (PE) et du Conseil sur le Droit Commun Européen de la Vente (CESL), publiée sous les références COM (2011) 635 fin 11.10.2011. Il prend en considération le droit international privé ainsi que quelques régles particuliéres de droit substantiel du Réglement et de l'actuel Droit de la Vente. Des suggestions sont avancées sur la mani&eacutere d'ajuster et de compléter cet instrument dans le but d'achever ce que le législateur européen tente de faire et ce dont la communauté du droit et du commerce, y compris les consommateurs, a besoin. Les problémes centraux posés par la Proposition sont le rôle exclusif voulu de la CESL par rapport aux régles transnationales existantes des contrats commerciaux internationaux et les raisons peu expliquées de séparer les régimes des consommateurs et des marchands en premier lieu. Les contrats concernant le consommateur et les contrats commerciaux ont chacun des caractéristiques et des exigences spécifiques qui nécessitent l'attention du législateur au sein de l'Europe et au-delá mais n'ont pas encore été suffisamment explicités par la doctrine juridique. Par conséquent, une recherche plus poussée sur le plan formel et substantiel á propos du contenu des contrats types relatifs au consommateur et au commerçant s'avére nécessaire. Un droit du consommateur consolidé, éventuellement séparé et impératif, pour le Marché Commun, pourrait être ainsi taillé sur mesure d'une maniére plus intégrée et convainvante.

Abstract: Following its 2010 Green paper on policy options for progress towards a European Contract Law for Consumers and Businesses and the more recent feasibility study for a future instrument in European Contract Law, the European Commission's commitment to a European contract law is unwavering. Although it is not as yet clear what form this instrument will take, the move to a European contract law is welcome. Yet, by concentrating on the negative impact of divergent interpretations of key terms within Directives on cross-border trade, the debate for a closer harmonization of private law appears to have overlooked another concern; that of divergent interpretations of exclusionary provisions, which, by undermining the effectiveness of Directives as protective measures threaten coherence. This threat exists in the United Kingdom with respect to two Directives affecting consumers as well as businesses: Directive 86/653 on self-employed commercial agents and Directive 93/13 on unfair terms. The aim of this article is to determine the extent of the problem and consider what solutions, if any, are available. Résumé: À la suite de la publication en juillet 2010 du livre vert de la Commission Européenne ainsi que la plus récente publication du rapport de la commission d'experts pour un instrument futur de droit européen des contrats, l'engagement de la Commission Européenne en faveur d'un droit européen des contrats demeure fort. Bien que ni la forme ni le contenu d'un tel instrument n'aient été précisés, un tel engagement de la Commission Européenne est néanmoins positif. Cependant, en se concentrant sur l'impact négatif causé par les différentes interprétations nationales de certains mots clés des Directives, le mouvement en faveur d'une harmonisation plus avancée du droit privé initié par la Commission Européenne semble avoir oublié un autre problème: celui des interprétations divergentes des exceptions d'application de certaines directives. De telles divergences nuisent à l'efficacité de ces directives en tant que mesures protectrices et menacent leur cohérence. Un tel problème se voit particulièrement au Royaume Uni par rapport à deux directives; la Directive 86/653 relative aux agents commerciaux indépendants et la directive 93/13 relative aux clauses abusives. Le but de cet article est d'étudier l'étendue de ce problème puis de considérer quelles solutions, s'il y en a, peuvent être proposées.

Abstract: This article analyzes the German, English and French law if and how contracts can be terminated or amended in response to unforeseen events. In addition, it describes the solutions in the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), the Principles of European Contract Law (PECL) and the UNIDROIT Principles on International Commercial Contracts. The starting point of this article is German law with its doctrine of Störung der Geschäftsgrundlage established by the courts in the 1920’s and recently codified in § 313 BGB. The new provision requires a fundamental change in circumstances upon which a contract was based and that it is unreasonable to hold the party bound to its (unchanged) duty. The article then stresses some parallels to the English frustration law, though English Courts have no power to revise the contract, whereas this is the primary remedy in German law. Taking French law into account, which still rejects the concept of imprévision, English law is thus placed between the Germanic and Romanic legal solutions. French law only knows force majeure which officially results in tout ou rien, though there is some trend towards accepting an obligation de renégociation. While article 79 (1) CISG is not dealing with the change of fundamental circumstances or the adjustment of contracts, article 6:111 PECL and articles 6.2.1 to 6.2.3 UNIDROIT Principles provide for this. The fact that they do not just allow for a termination of the contract, but also its juridical adaptation to restore the equilibrium is a trend that should be welcomed from the perspective of European and international contract law. Résumé: Cet article analyse au niveau des droits allemand, anglais et français la question de la résiliation ou de la modification des contrats suite à des évènements imprévus. De plus, il décrit les solutions de la Convention des Nations Unies sur les Contrats de Vente Internationale de Marchandises (CVIM), des Principes de droit européen des contrats (PECL) et des Principes UNIDROIT relatifs aux contrats du commerce international. Le point de départ de cet article est le droit allemand et sa doctrine de Störung der Geschäftsgrundlage [see above]. instauré par les tribunaux dans les années 1920 et codifié récemment par le § 313 BGB. Cette nouvelle disposition requiert deux conditions: un changement important des circonstances à la base du contrat et qu’il ne soit pas équitable d’exiger l’exécution par la partie de son obligation contractuelle (non modifiée). Des parallèles sont ensuite tracés avec le droit anglais de l’impossibilité d’exécution, et ce bien que les tribunaux anglais n’aient pas le pouvoir de modifier le contrat alors que c’est le recours principal du droit allemand. Au vu du droit français, qui rejette encore le concept d’imprévision, le droit anglais est donc situé entre les solutions germaniques et romanes. Le droit français connaît uniquement la force majeure qui se solde officiellement par tout ou rien, bien qu’il existe une certaine tendance vers l’acceptation d’une obligation de renégociation. Alors que l’article 79 (1) CVIM ne concerne par le changement des circonstances à la base du contrat ou la modification des contrats, l’article 6:111 PECL et les articles 6.2.1 à 6&peri

Abstract: In this article, O. Lando investigates if good faith can be considered an overarching principle in European contract law. It looks at the principle from a historical and comparative law perspective. In all continental European countries a general principle of good faith can be found. The principle is also encountered in the Principles of European Contract Law, the Unidroit Principles of Commercial Contracts and, to some extent, in the Vienna Convention on the International Sale of Goods. However, in English law good faith is not treated as an over-arching principle, although the principle can be found incidentally in specific regulations and cases. O. Lando concludes that, in spite of logical and technical arguments to the contrary made by H. Beale, good faith is an over arching principle. Résumé: Dans cet article, O. Lando étudie si la bonne foi peut être considérée comme un principe primordial du droit européen des contrats en l’analysant du point de vue historique et du point de vue du droit comparé. Le principe de bonne foi se retrouve dans tous les pays continentaux européens et est également présent dans les Principes du droit européen des contrats, les Principes d’UNIDROIT relatifs aux contrats du commerce international, et dans une certaine mesure, dans la Convention de Vienne sur les contrats de vente internationale de marchandises. Le droit anglais cependant ne traite pas la bonne foi comme un principe primordial, bien que le principe puisse incidemment être trouvé dans des législations spécifiques et dans la jurisprudence. O. Lando conclut qu’en dépit des arguments techniques et logiques contraires exposés par H. Beale, la bonne foi est un principe primordial. Zusammenfassung: In seinem Beitrag untersucht O. Lando, ob das Institut des Treu und Glaubens als allumfassender Grundsatz innerhalb des europäischen Vertragsrechts angesehen werden kann. Der Beitrag stellt diesen Grundsatz sowohl in einem historischen als auch in einem vergleichenden Zusammenhang dar. In allen Staaten des europäischen Kontinents ist ein allgemeiner Grundsatz des Treu und Glauben wiederzufinden. Dieser Grundsatz ist ebenfalls in den Principles of European Contract Law, den Unidroit Principles sowie zum Teil auch im Übereinkommen der Vereinten Nationen über Verräge über den internationalen Warenkauf aufgenommen. Im englischen Recht wird der Grundsatz des True und Glaubens nicht als ein allumfassender Grundsatz angesehen, obwohl er gelegentlich in einigen spezifischen Bestimmungen und gerichtlichen Entscheidungen wiederzufinden ist. O. Lando folgert, dass der Grundsatz des Treu und Glaubens trotz einiger logischer und technischer Gegenargumente, die insbesondere durch H. Beale vorgetragen wurden, im Ergebnis als ein allumfassender Grundsatz angesehen werden kann.

Abstract. The year 1994 has witnessed the publication of two instruments of international contract law: the UNIDROIT Principles for International Commercial Contracts and the first part of the Principles of European Contract Law. Both documents contain general provisions and chapters on performance and non-performance of contracts. The contents of these are compared in this article. The survey shows that the two sets of Principles resemble each other to a large extent, not merely in the editorial form in which they (and the accompanying comments) are presented, but also in the topics dealt with and in the solutions that have been chosen. However, there are notable exceptions, such as the receipt and dispatch rules (see section 1.3 of this article); usages (1.4); price determination by third person (2); payment of an obligation expressed in currency other than that of the place of payment (3.2); right to cure (4.3); exceptions to specific performance of monetary obligations (4.6); policy towards restitution (4.8): foreseeability and intentional non-performance (4.10): and reliance on exemption clause (4.10). New uniform rules have been worked out on topics which traditionally have divided legal systems, such as the principle of good faith and fair dealing, hardship, contracts in favour of a third party, specific performance, the concept of non-performance, termination, penal clauses and restrictions on exemption clauses. The outcome suggests that an international unification of Principles of contract law is not as unrealistic a project as many have considered it to be until now. Resume. En 1994 ont vu le jour deux documents de droit des contrats international: les Principes relatifs aux contrats du commerce international de I’UNIDROIT et les Principes du droit Européen des contrats (première partie). Les deux textes contiennent des dispositions générales et des chapitres sur I’exécution ainsi que sur I’inexécution des contrats. L’étude comparative nous montre que les deux textes présentent des fortes resemblances, tant du point de vue de la forme (et cela également les commentaires) que du fond, c’est-á-dire les sujets traités et les solutions choisises. Il existent néanmoins des exceptions importantes, comme les principes de la réception ou de l’expkdition d’une notification (voir no. 1.3 de cet article); les usages et pratiques (1.4); la fixation du prix par un tiers (5); le paiement d’une obligation exprimhé dans une monnaie autre que celle du lieu de paiement (3.2); la correction par le débiteur (4.3); les exceptions au droit du créancier d’exiger l’exécution d’une obligation non pécuniaire (4.6); les régles relatifs á la restitution (4.8); la prévisibilité du préjudice (4.10); le contrôle des clauses exonératoires (4.10). En somme, des régles uniformes tout-à- fait novatrices ont été élaborées sur des sujets qui ont traditionnellement divisé les systèmes juridiques, comme le principe de la bonne foi, le hardship, les stipulations en faveur d’un tiers, le droit d’exiger I’exécution des obligations, l’élaboration du principe de I’inexécution essentielle, le droit

Abstract: If the Common European Sales Law (CESL) is adopted, commercial parties will have the opportunity to choose between two international legal instruments for the regulation of their international commercial sales contracts. Whereas CESL is available to both consumer and commercial sales contracts, the Vienna Sales Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG) is intended for commercial sales contracts only. This could suggest that CISG is more suitable for use in commercial sales contracts, as commercial parties usually have different interests compared to consumers. In this article, it is argued that, as CESL remedies major flaws in CISG, in fact CESL is the better choice (also) for commercial parties, in particular because it introduces coherent rules on defects of consent, clearer and more balanced rules regarding the incorporation of standard terms, and a scheme for the testing of the unfairness of standard terms. Résumé: Si le droit commun européen de la vente (CESL) est adopté, les parties commerciales auront la possibilité de choisir entre deux instruments juridiques internationaux pour la régulation de leurs contrats de vente commerciale internationale. Alors que CESL sera disponible dans le cas d'une transaction transfrontalière dans l'espace européen entre professionnels et consommateurs et aussi dans le cas d`une transaction entre deux professionnels, la Convention de Vienne relative à la vente internationale de marchandises vise uniquement les contrats de vente commerciale internationale. Ceci pourrait suggérer que la Convention de Vienne est plus appropriée aux contrats de vente commerciale internationale comme les parties commerciales ont en général des intérêts différents par rapport aux consommateurs. Dans cet article, nous postulons que CESL répare les défauts majeurs dans la Convention de Vienne et propose en fait le meilleur choix pour toutes les parties - professionnels et consommateurs -, en particulier parce que CESL introduit des règles cohérents sur les vices de consentement, contient des règles concernant l'incorporation des conditions générales plus claires et plus équilibrées et introduit des provisions pour tester le caractère abusif des conditions générales. Zusammenfassung: Sollte der Vorschlag über ein Gemeinsames Europäisches Kaufrecht (CESL) angenommen werden, werden Unternehmer die Wahl zwischen zwei Rechtsordnungen haben, die ihren internationalen Kaufverträgen zugrunde liegen können. Während der Anwendungsbereich des CESL sowohl für Verbraucherverträge als auch für Handelsverträge zur Verfügung steht, findet das Wiener Abkommen zum UN-Kaufrecht (CISG) nur für Handelsverträge Anwendung. Man könnte daraus schließen, dass das CISG als Grundlage für Handelsverträge besser geeignet sei, da Händler in der Regel von Verbrauchern abweichende Interessen haben. In diesem Aufsatz wird jedoch argumentiert, dass, da das CESL erhebliche Mängel im CISG behebt, das CESL grundsätzlich die bessere Wahl (auch) für Händler ist. Im Gegensatz zum CISG führt das CESL kohärente Vorschriften über Einigungsmängel ein, sowie klare und ausgewogene Vorschriften für die Einbeziehung und Inhaltskontrolle von Allgemeinen Geschäftsbedingungen.

AbstractFrom the end of the 17th to the beginning of the 19th century, the domestic Ottoman seaborne trade was largely ensured by European merchantmen chartered by Muslims traders. This practice suggests that the written contracts, signed by both partners, were consistent with the islamic law. This study will analyse these contracts and confront them with the principles and rules of the Islamic maritime law, elaborated since the upper Middle Ages, in order to evaluate the influence of the Islamic law upon the Christian maritime law which made it acceptable by Muslims. De la fin du XVIIe au début du XIXe siècle, le commerce maritime à l'intérieur de l'Empire ottoman a principalement été assuré par des navires européens affrétés par des négociants musulmans. Cette pratique suggère que les contrats écrits, signés par les deux parties, étaient compatibles avec le droit musulman. Cette étude se propose d'analyser ces contrats et de les comparer avec les principes et les règles du droit maritime musulman, élaboré depuis le haut Moyen-Age. L'importance de son influence sur le droit maritime chrétien explique pourquoi celui-ci est devenu acceptable par des musulmans.

Abstract: Despite the UK’s membership of the EU, since the UK’s accession, English contract and commercial law seem to have been little influenced by continental concepts. This paper argues that this is because of the form in which EU legislation is implemented in England and Wales, the English approach to the interpretation of legislation and a positive resistance to major continental ideas among the legal profession which, in this field, seeks to retain the distinctive character of English law. The latter is partly fuelled by the desire to ‘export’ English law as the law of choice for international contracts that may have no other connection to England. It concludes that we are not likely to see the English courts voluntarily developing English contract law into greater harmony with continental models. Résumé: Malgré l’adhésion du Royaume-Uni à l’Union Européenne, depuis son accession, le droit anglais, des contrats et du commerce, semble avoir été peu influencé par les concepts continentaux. Le présent article explique que ce phénomène est dû à la forme dans laquelle la législation de l’Union Européenne est transposée en Angleterre et au Pays de Galles, l’approche anglaise de l’interprétation de la législation et une résistance active aux idées majeures continentales de la part des professionnels du droit qui, dans ce domaine, cherchent à préserver le caractère spécifique du droit anglo-saxon. Ce dernier aspect est en partie alimenté par le désir d’ « exporter » le droit anglo-saxon comme droit choisi dans les contrats internationaux alors que ceux-ci n’ont pas nécessairement d’autres rapports avec l’Angleterre. L’article conclut qu’il est peu probable que les Cours et Tribunaux anglais pratiquent volontairement un droit anglo-saxon des contrats qui s’harmonise davantage avec les modèles continentaux. Zusammenfassung: Trotz der Mitgliedschaft des Vereinigten Königreichs in der Europäischen Union, scheint es, als ob das englische Vertragsrecht und Handelsrecht seit dem Beitritt des Vereinigten Königreichs nur wenig Einfluss auf die kontinentalen Rechtsinstrumente ausüben kann. In diesem Beitrag soll näher dargestellt werden, dass der Grund hierfür die Art und Weise ist, mit der die gesetzgeberischen Maßnahmen der Europäischen Union in England und Wales implementiert werden, der englische Ansatz zur Gesetzesauslegung sowie ein Widerstand gegen maßgebliche kontinentale Ideen in der englischen Rechtswissenschaft sowie auch der rechtlichen Praxis, die im Rahmen dieses Bereichs danach strebt, den besonderen Charakter des englischen Rechts zu bewahren. In der letzten Gruppe besteht sogar ein Bestreben, das englische Recht im Rahmen einer Rechtswahlklausel in internationalen Verträgen, die keinerlei Bezugspunkte zu England aufweisen zu exportieren. Der Beitrag schlussfolgert, dass wir nicht schnell sehen werden, dass englische Gerichte das englische Vertragsrecht freiwillig dahingehend fortbilden, um eine größere Harmonisierung mit den kontinentalen Modellen zu erreichen.

Abstract: In the last two decades, several European countries have altered the general provisions on assignment or introduced new forms of assignment, in order to facilitate emerging financial instruments that involve the transfer of claims, especially securitisation. This is brought about by deformalisation, i.e. the abolition of formal requirements for the validity of assignment or the introduction of a new form of assignment with fewer formalities. The deformalisation relates inter alia to the requirement of notification of the debtor of the claim. In order to assess whether the interests of the debtor were harmed by this deformalisation, the position of the debtor between assignment and notification is described, analysed and compared for several European countries (France, England and Wales, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Italy, Spain, Germany, Switzerland) as well as for the United Nations Convention on the Assignment of Receivables in International Trade of 2001, the third part of the Principles on European Contract Law of 2003 and the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts of 2004. It is concluded that the deformalisation movement was not in itself detrimental to the position of the debtor: the only exception is the situation in the handful of legal systems in which payment by the debtor to the assignee does not lead to his discharge when he was not instructed to do so, notwithstanding the fact that he had gained knowledge of the assignment by means other than notification. Résumé: Durant les deux dernières décennies, plusieurs pays européens ont modifié leurs dispositions générales sur la cession ou ont introduit des nouvelles formes de cession de créance afin de faciliter les instruments financiers émergents qui impliquent le transfert de créances et spécialement leur titrisation. Ceci a conduit à une déformalisation, par exemple, par l’abolition des exigences de formes pour la validité des cessions ou l’introduction d’une nouvelle forme de cession avec des formalités réduites. La déformalisation se rapporte entre autres à l’obligation de notification au débiteur de la créance. Afin de déterminer si cette déformalisation nuit aux intérêts du débiteur, sa situation entre cession et notification est décrite, analysée et comparée pour plusieurs pays européen (France, l’Angleterre et le Pays de Galles, les Pays-Bas, Belgique, Norvège, Italie, Espagne, Allemagne, Suisse), de même que pour la Convention des Nations Unies sur la cession de créances dans le commerce international de 2001, la troisième partie les Principes du Droit Européen des Contrats de 2003 et les Principes d’UNIDROIT relatifs aux contrats du commerce international de 2004. L’auteur conclut que le mouvement de déformalisation n’est pas en luimême dommageable quant à la situation du débiteur; la seule exception étant celle d’une poignée de juridictions dans lesquelles le paiement par le débiteur au cessionnaire n’entraíne pas sa décharge quand il n’avait pas reçu l’instruction de le faire ainsi, nonobstant le fait qu’il soit au courant de la cession par d’autres moyens que la notification. Zusammenfassung: In den letzten beiden Jahrzehnten haben zahlreiche europäische Staaten die allgemeinen Bestimmungen im Hinblick auf die Abtretung verändert oder aber eine neue Formen der A

Abstract: Public policy exceptions arguably exist in all fields of private and commerciallaw, not only in private international law but also in substantive law. In substantive private law, the term 'public policy exception' could be used to indicate general illegality rules that make an act of private autonomy (a contract, a testament, etc.) invalid when it conflicts with public policy or good morals. In primary EU law, one may call 'public policy exceptions' the derogations from the four freedoms for reasons of public morality, public policy, public security, or public health. Like the ordre public exceptions in private international law, the public policy exceptions in substantive private and commercial laws can also be seen as conflict rules. In fact, the public policy exceptions in substantive private law address the conflict between state regulation and policy, on the one hand, and private (self-)regulation and policy, on the other hand. Moreover, the public policy derogations from the four freedoms regulate the conflict between EU and national law and policy. A long-term research project initiated in Groningen aims at a cross-cutting comparison of interpretations and applications of concepts that function as public policy exceptions in different branches of substantive, international, and EU private and commerciallaw. In particular, this project aims at discovering and comparing the governance aspects, the fundamental rights based aspects, and the social justice aspects of these interpretations and applications. Resumé: On trouve sans aucun doute des exceptions d'ordre public dans tous les domaines du droit privé et commercial, non seulement en droit international privé mais aussi en droit matériel. En droit privé matériel, le terme 'exception d'ordre public' pourrait être utilisé pour indiquer des règles générales d'illicéité invalidant un acte d'autonomie privée (un contrat, un testament etc.) lorsqu'il est contraire à l'ordre public ou aux bonnes mœurs. Dans le droit primaire de l'UE, on peut appeler 'les exceptions d'ordre public' les dérogations aux 'quatre libertés' pour des raisons de morale publique, d'ordre public, de sécurité publique ou de santé publique. Comme les exceptions d'ordre public en droit international privé, les exceptions d'ordre public en droit privé matériel et commercial peuvent aussi être considérées comme des règles de conflit. En fait, les exceptions d'ordre public en droit privé matériel traitent le conflit entre la réglementation et la politique publiques d'une part et l'(auto-)réglementation et la politique privées d'autre part. De plus, les derogations d'ordre public aux 'quatre libertés' règlementent le conflit entre le droit et la politique au niveau national et au niveau de l'UE. Un projet de recherche à long terme lancé à Groningen vise à établir une comparaison transversale d'interprétations et d'applications de concepts fonctionnant comme exceptions d'ordre public dans différentes branches de droit matériel, international et de droit commercial et privé de l'UE. Ce projet tente en particulier de découvrir et de comparer les aspects de gouvernance, les aspects basés sur les droits fondamentaux et les aspects de justice sociale de ces interprétations et applications.

Il résulte de l’article 46 du code de procédure civile que, lorsqu’il n’y a ni convention internationale ni règlement européen relatif à la compétence judiciaire, la compétence internationale se détermine par extension des règles de compétence territoriale interne, de sorte que le demandeur peut, en matière contractuelle, saisir à son choix, outre la juridiction du lieu où demeure le défendeur, la juridiction du lieu de la livraison effective de la chose ou du lieu de l’exécution de la prestation de services. Une cour d’appel, qui constate qu’une société demeurait en dehors de l’Union européenne, que les livraisons successives de ses produits étaient régies par un contrat-cadre qui faisait participer une autre société à sa stratégie commerciale et imposait à celle-ci des objectifs de vente contraignants, qu’elle consentait en contrepartie à cette autre société un droit personnel exclusif de distribution concernant le marché de l’Union européenne et de la Suisse, qu’elle s’interdisait de concurrencer cette société sur ce marché, qu’elle s’engageait à participer aux coûts de promotion et à transmettre à celle-ci toutes les commandes ou demandes de renseignements qu’elle recevait d’acheteurs des territoires concernés et que ces avantages avaient une valeur économique pouvant être considérée comme constitutive d’une rémunération, en déduit exactement que le contrat portait sur une prestation de services et que le lieu de son exécution se situait en France, de sorte que les juridictions françaises étaient compétentes.

In January 2024, the EU Data Act (DA) came into force, which is a central building block of the EU Strategy for data. It contains special rules on control of unjust contractual terms. This article examines these provisions of the DA, explains their systematic relationship to other EU secondary law, in particular the Unfair Contract Terms Directive (UCTD), and looks at the impact on national contract law. The leitmotiv of the EU legislator to attach great importance to freedom of contract in commercial transactions is emphasized. This principle visibly influences the standard of clause control. In this respect, it is not only remarkable that there is no transparency control. The validity of the remaining terms of the contract can also remain unaffected by the invalidity of a clause. The resulting gap can be closed by supplementary interpretation of the contract in accordance with national law.Im Januar 2024 ist der Data Act der Europäischen Union in Kraft getreten, der einen zentralen Baustein der EU-Strategie für Daten bildet. In ihm sind Sonderregeln zur AGB-Kontrolle enthalten. Der Beitrag untersucht diese Vorschriften des Data Act, erläutert ihren systematischen Zusammenhang mit anderem EUSekundärrecht, insbesondere zur Klauselrichtlinie, und beleuchtet die Auswirkungen auf das mitgliedstaatliche Vertragsrecht. Dabei wird das Leitmotiv des unionalen Gesetzgebers, der Vertragsfreiheit im unternehmerischen Rechtsverkehr eine hohe Bedeutung zuzumessen, herausgearbeitet. Diese Vorgabe beeinflusst sichtbar den Maßstab der Klauselkontrolle. Insofern ist nicht nur bemerkenswert, dass keine Transparenzkontrolle existiert. Auch bleibt die Wirksamkeit des übrigen Vertrags von der Nichtigkeit einer Klausel grundsätzlich unberührt. Die entstandene Lücke kann durch ergänzende Vertragsauslegung nach mitgliedstaatlichem Recht geschlossen werden.En janvier 2024, le règlement européen sur les données est entré en vigueur, ce qui constitue un élément central de la stratégie de l’UE en matière de données. Le règlement contient des règles spéciales sur le contrôle des clauses contractuelles abusives. Cet article examine ces dispositions du règlement sur les données, explique leur relation systématique avec d’autres dispositions du droit secondaire de l’UE, en particulier la directive concernant les clauses contractuelles abusives, et examine leur impact sur le droit national des contrats. Le leitmotiv du législateur européen, qui consiste à accorder une grande importance à la liberté de contracter dans les relations juridiques entre entreprises, est mis en évidence. Cette approche a une influence visible sur les critères de contrôle des clauses. En ce sens, l’absence de contrôle de la transparence

The CESL'sscheme of remedies for defective performance by the seller is different for commercial sales and for consumer sales. In case of a commercial transaction (B2B), the seller has a right to cure defective performance either by repair or by replacement, before the merchant-buyer is entitled toterminate the contract. The priority of cure over rescission offers an efficient solution as it keeps buyer opportunism at bay, while preserving the incentives of the seller to deliver conforming goods. The scheme of remedies for transactions involving consumer-buyers(B2C)deviates from this reasonable solution as the buyer, in the case of defective tender, is entitled to immediate rescission. The right to immediate cancellation is meant to privilege consumer-buyers but, in truth,this backfires as it increases the costs of sellers without benefitting buyers in the same or a higher measure. The right to immediate rescission allows buyers to call off the contract for opportunistic reasons, such as a drop in market price or, more importantly, a revision of personal preferences. The resulting increase in the costs of sellers will be passed on to the class of buyers through price increases. In this way,opportunistic buyers will be able to shift the costs associated with their behaviour to faithful buyers who will be forced to cross-subsidize their opportunistic brethren. It seems that this rather sad outcome is not what the framers of the CESL had in mind when they tried to enhance the remedies of consumer-buyers.

Abstract: In the judgment discussed below, the Appeals Court of Munich (OLG München) deals with the question whether jurisdiction and arbitration clauses have to be set aside in the light of the Ingmar decision of the European Court of Justice where they cause a derogation from Articles 17 and 18 of the Commercial Agents Directive. The Court concludes that this question should be answered in the affirmative if it is ‘likely’ that the designated court or arbitral tribunal will neither apply Articles 17 and 18 nor compensate the commercial agent on different grounds. Thus, the Court advocates that Articles 17 and 18 be given extensive protection. This is, however, problematic because such extensive protection imposes serious restrictions on party autonomy, whereas these restrictions are not required by Community law in general or by the principle of effectiveness in particular. Therefore, it is very much open to doubt whether this decision is in the best interests of the Internal Market. Résumé: Dans l’arrêt étudiéci-dessous la Cour d’appel de Munich (OLG München) s’occupe de la question si l’arrêt Ingmar de la Cour de justice des Communautés européennes demande la nullitédes conventions d’élection de for et d’arbitrage si elles ont pour conséquence la dérogation des Articles 17 et 18 de la directive sur l’agence commerciale. La Cour conclut que cette question doit être répondue par l’affirmative s’il est ‘vraisemblable’ que le tribunal choisi va ni appliquer les Articles 17 et 18 ni compenser l’agent commercial sur une autre base. En jugeant ainsi, la Cour se prononce pour une protection considérable des Articles 17 et 18. Ceci est problématique, cependant, parce qu’une telle protection impose des restrictions graves à l’autonomie de la volonté, sans que celles soient exigées par le droit communautaire en général ou par le principe d’effectivitéen particulier. Par conséquent, il faut douter du fait que la décision de la Cour d’appel de Munich soit dans l’intérêt du MarchéCommun. Zusammenfassung: In der besprochenen Entscheidung setzt sich das Oberlandesgericht München (OLG München) mit der Frage auseinander, ob Gerichtsstands- und Schiedsvereinbarungen im Lichte der Ingmar-Entscheidung des Europäischen Gerichtshofs unwirksam sind, wenn sie dazu führen, dass die international zwingenden Bestimmungen der Artikel 17 und 18 der Handelsvertreterrichtlinie keine Anwendung finden. Das Gericht kommt zu dem Ergebnis, dass diese Frage zu bejahen ist, wenn die ‘nahe liegende Gefahr’ besteht, dass das gewählte (Schieds-) Gericht weder Artikel 17 und 18 anwenden noch dem Handelsvertreter auf anderer Grundlage einen Ausgleichs- oder Entschädigungsanspruch gewähren wird. Es setzt sich damit für einen sehr weitgehenden Schutz der Artikel 17 und 18 ein. Dies ist allerdings problematisch, weil ein derartig weitgehender Schutz zu massiven Einschränkungen der Parteiautonomie führt, ohne dass diese vom Gemeinschaftsrecht im Allgemeinen oder vom Effektivitätsgrundsatz im Besonderen gefordert würden. Es muss deshalb bezweifelt werden, dass das Gericht dem Gemeinsamen Markt mit seiner Entscheidung einen Gefallen getan hat.

Abstract: Natural law and economic liberalism engendered the grand concept of modern European private law (freedom of contract, property, faute personnelle). Nearly simultaneously, the ongoing process of industrial revolution paved the way into 'another modernity'. Its new paradigms were technical risks, enterprises, and insurance. Insurability of losses caused by risky commercial activities and the concomitant possibility of passing on its costs to the public created the demand for 'stricter' forms of enterprise liability beyond fault. This article presents three different answers to these social challenges. Germany is but a prominent example for the continental EU Member States with its mixed system of social insurance, special legislation on Gefährdungshaftung, and a general fault regime. The United States adheres to the common law's negligence system with only marginal corrections. The liability law of the new Russian civil code combines the French legacy with the revolutionary ideas of the 1922 code leading to two general clauses of quasi-strict and strict liabilities. Résumé: Le droit naturel et le libéralisme économique ont engendré le grand concept du droit privé européen moderne (liberté contractuelle, propriété, faute personnelle). Quasiment en parallèle, le processus de la révolution industrielle met en route une « autre modernité » dont les paradigmes sont les risques techniques, les entreprises et les assurances. La possibilité d'assurer des pertes dues à des activités économiques à risques et l'opportunité de pouvoir en répartir les coûts sur la société créent un besoin des formes plus strictes de la responsabilité des entreprises au-delà de la responsabilité pour faute personelle. Cet article présente trois réponses différentes à ces challenges sociaux. L'Allemagne, avec son système mixte d'assurances sociales, legislation spéciale de Gefährdungshaftung et droit général de responsabilité pour faute, n'est qu'un éminent exemple des pays continentaux de l'Union Européenne. Les Etats-Unis adhèrent au principe de negligence du common law avec seulement quelques corrections marginales de stricte responsabilité. Le droit de responsabilité du nouveau code civil de la Fédération Russe combine l'héritage français aux idées révolutionnaires du code civil de 1922 et aboutit à deux clauses générales de responsabilité quasi-stricte et stricte.

Abstract:On the occasion of the ECJ Decision on preliminary ruling on the interpretation of Article 16 (1) (a) of the Brussels Convention on Jurisdiction and Enforcement of Judgments, made in the course of proceeding brought for repayment of sums paid on the conclusion of a contract to acquire a right to use an apartment in Greece on a timeshare basis, the court entertained no doubts as to the obligational nature of the claim. This decision comes at a time when the European Commission is promoting follow-up consultations on the use of immovable property on a timeshare basis, pointing out that the lack of a unified concept as to what is the nature of the product has given way to a constant introduction of new contractual forms designed to evade the guarantees laid down by the Community. Against this background the author finds it appropriate to outline a personal approach to these issues. It is sustained that what lies in the centre of this and a vast number of similar disputes on the subject is insufficient recognition of the actual problems, for which, so far, there are still no satisfactory answers. Résumé:À l’ óccasion de la décision à titre préjudiciel de la CJCE en interprétation de l’article 16 (1) de la Convention de Bruxelles de 1968 concernant, la compétence judiciaire et l’exécution des décisions en matière civile et commerciale, soulevée dans une affaire pendante sur le remboursement des payments fait pour l’achat d?un droit d’utilisation à temps partiel (timeshare) d’un appartement en Grèce, la Cour n’a pas douté de statuer sur la nature obligationelle de cette question. Cette décision arrive au moment où la Commission lance une consultation sur l’utilisation à temps partiel des biens immobiliers parce que par défaut d’un concept uniforme de la nature du produit, des nouveaux contracts similaires au timesharing sont arrivés sur le marché pour exploiter des failles dans la réglementation communautaire. Sur la base de cette donnée, l’auteur fait ici une valoration personnelle de la question abordée. Cette opinion soutient que le motif de ces controverses et d’autres similaires se trouve dans une évaluation souvent erronée des vrais problèmes, auxquels in n’a pas été donné des réponses satisfaisantes. Zusammenffassung:Der vorliegende Beitrag bezieht seinen Anstoß aus einer jüngsten EuGH- Entscheidung sowie aus Aktivitäten der EG-Kommission im Bereich des Timesharing. Der EuGH hat in der hier besprochenen Entscheidung zu Artikel 16 (1) (a) EuGVÜ den vertraglichen Charakter der Ansprüche aus Timesharing-Verträgen betont. Das Verfahren betraf die Klage eines Käufers eines in Griechenland gelegenen Timesharingobjekts auf Rückzahlung der von ihm bei Vertragsschluss geleisteten Zahlungen. Die EG-Kommission initiiert zur Zeit Untersuchungen zu den Ausgestaltung von Timesharingverträgen in der europäischen Praxis, weil sie davon ausgeht, dass das Fehlen eines einheitlichen Timesharing-Begriffs in Europa den Gebrauch neuer Vertragsformen begünstigt hat, die europarechtliche Garantien umgehen könnten. Der vorliegende Beitrag will darlegen, dass der Ausgangspunkt für den der EuGHEntscheidung zugrunde liegenden Rechtsstreit und viele weitere im mangelnden Bewusstsein um die eigentlichen Probleme des Timesharing liegt, für die nach wie vor keine befriedigenden Lösungen gefunden wurden.

More than 50 isolates of Potato virus Y (PVY) with characteristics of strains that cause tobacco veinal necrosis (PVYN) were obtained from potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) grown in the northwestern United States. These isolates are being characterized at the biological and molecular levels. Isolate RR1 was obtained from leaves of potato cv. Ranger Russet showing distinct mottling and leaf deformity, which is in contrast to the leaf-drop and necrosis usually observed with ordinary strains of PVY (PVYO) in this variety. Isolate AL1 was obtained from tubers of potato cv. Alturas showing distinct internal light brown rings and blotches. When RR1 and AL1 were transmitted to tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. cvs. Samsun NN and 423), they caused systemic veinal necrosis, including stem and petiole lesions typical of PVYN strains (2). Symptoms induced by RR1 and AL1 on tobacco appeared 9 to 11 days after inoculation, whereas some other isolates caused delayed veinal necrosis. All isolates that produced veinal necrosis on tobacco were detectable with PVY polyclonal antisera. Potato virus X was not detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in tobacco plants showing veinal necrosis. Some isolates, including AL1, failed to react in serological tests using PVYN-specific monoclonal antibodies obtained from three commercial sources. Other isolates, including RR1, were detectable with these monoclonal antibodies. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) products obtained with primers specific for the coat protein (CP) open reading frame (ORF) were cloned and sequenced. AL1 possesses a CP more closely related to PVYO type isolates, which would account for its failure to react with PVYN monoclonal antibodies. In this regard, AL1 is similar to the PVYN-Wilga isolate (1). Other isolates that are detectable with the PVYN monoclonal antibodies possess a CP more consistent with N strains of the virus. Results of RT-PCR tests using primers derived from the P1 ORF sequence (3), and the restriction enzyme analysis and sequencing of the RT-PCR products, all suggest that AL1 and RR1 are related to European-type members of PVY tuber necrotic (NTN) or N strains. However, other isolates under investigation appear to be more closely related to previously reported North American NTN types (3). The symptomatology of these viruses on tobacco and potato, and the serological and molecular data clearly show that at least two distinct variants of PVYN have been found for the first time in a major potato production area of the United States, and pose a potential threat to the potato industry. References: (1) B. Blanco-Urgoiti et al. Eur. J. Plant Pathol. 104:811, 1998. (2) J. A. de Bokx and H. Huttinga. Potato virus Y. Descriptions of Plant Viruses. No. 242, CMI/AAB, Surrey, England, 1981. (3) R. P. Singh et al. Can J. Plant Pathol. 20:227, 1998.

Mobile In many countries, more people have mobile phones than they do fixed-line phones. Mobile phones are one of the fastest growing technologies ever, outstripping even the internet in many respects. With the advent and widespread deployment of digital systems, mobile phones were used by an estimated 1, 158, 254, 300 people worldwide in 2002 (up from approximately 91 million in 1995), 51. 4% of total telephone subscribers (ITU). One of the reasons for this is mobility itself: the ability for people to talk on the phone wherever they are. The communicative possibilities opened up by mobile phones have produced new uses and new discourses (see Katz and Aakhus; Brown, Green, and Harper; and Plant). Contemporary soundscapes now feature not only voice calls in previously quiet public spaces such as buses or restaurants but also the aural irruptions of customised polyphonic ringtones identifying whose phone is ringing by the tune downloaded. The mobile phone plays an important role in contemporary visual and material culture as fashion item and status symbol. Most tragically one might point to the tableau of people in the twin towers of the World Trade Centre, or aboard a plane about to crash, calling their loved ones to say good-bye (Galvin). By contrast, one can look on at the bathos of Australian cricketer Shane Warne’s predilection for pressing his mobile phone into service to arrange wanted and unwanted assignations while on tour. In this article, I wish to consider another important and so far also under-theorised aspect of mobile phones: text. Of contemporary textual and semiotic systems, mobile text is only a recent addition. Yet it is already produces millions of inscriptions each day, and promises to be of far-reaching significance. Txt Txt msg ws an acidnt. no 1 expcted it. Whn the 1st txt msg ws sent, in 1993 by Nokia eng stdnt Riku Pihkonen, the telcom cpnies thought it ws nt important. SMS – Short Message Service – ws nt considrd a majr pt of GSM. Like mny teks, the *pwr* of txt — indeed, the *pwr* of the fon — wz discvrd by users. In the case of txt mssng, the usrs were the yng or poor in the W and E. (Agar 105) As Jon Agar suggests in Constant Touch, textual communication through mobile phone was an after-thought. Mobile phones use radio waves, operating on a cellular system. The first such mobile service went live in Chicago in December 1978, in Sweden in 1981, in January 1985 in the United Kingdom (Agar), and in the mid-1980s in Australia. Mobile cellular systems allowed efficient sharing of scarce spectrum, improvements in handsets and quality, drawing on advances in science and engineering. In the first instance, technology designers, manufacturers, and mobile phone companies had been preoccupied with transferring telephone capabilities and culture to the mobile phone platform. With the growth in data communications from the 1960s onwards, consideration had been given to data capabilities of mobile phone. One difficulty, however, had been the poor quality and slow transfer rates of data communications over mobile networks, especially with first-generation analogue and early second-generation digital mobile phones. As the internet was widely and wildly adopted in the early to mid-1990s, mobile phone proponents looked at mimicking internet and online data services possibilities on their hand-held devices. What could work on a computer screen, it was thought, could be reinvented in miniature for the mobile phone — and hence much money was invested into the wireless access protocol (or WAP), which spectacularly flopped. The future of mobiles as a material support for text culture was not to lie, at first at least, in aping the world-wide web for the phone. It came from an unexpected direction: cheap, simple letters, spelling out short messages with strange new ellipses. SMS was built into the European Global System for Mobile (GSM) standard as an insignificant, additional capability. A number of telecommunications manufacturers thought so little of the SMS as not to not design or even offer the equipment needed (the servers, for instance) for the distribution of the messages. The character sets were limited, the keyboards small, the typeface displays rudimentary, and there was no acknowledgement that messages were actually received by the recipient. Yet SMS was cheap, and it offered one-to-one, or one-to-many, text communications that could be read at leisure, or more often, immediately. SMS was avidly taken up by young people, forming a new culture of media use. Sending a text message offered a relatively cheap and affordable alternative to the still expensive timed calls of voice mobile. In its early beginnings, mobile text can be seen as a subcultural activity. The text culture featured compressed, cryptic messages, with users devising their own abbreviations and grammar. One of the reasons young people took to texting was a tactic of consolidating and shaping their own shared culture, in distinction from the general culture dominated by their parents and other adults. Mobile texting become involved in a wider reworking of youth culture, involving other new media forms and technologies, and cultural developments (Butcher and Thomas). Another subculture that also was in the vanguard of SMS was the Deaf ‘community’. Though the Alexander Graham Bell, celebrated as the inventor of the telephone, very much had his hearing-impaired wife in mind in devising a new form of communication, Deaf people have been systematically left off the telecommunications network since this time. Deaf people pioneered an earlier form of text communications based on the Baudot standard, used for telex communications. Known as teletypewriter (TTY), or telecommunications device for the Deaf (TDD) in the US, this technology allowed Deaf people to communicate with each other by connecting such devices to the phone network. The addition of a relay service (established in Australia in the mid-1990s after much government resistance) allows Deaf people to communicate with hearing people without TTYs (Goggin & Newell). Connecting TTYs to mobile phones have been a vexed issue, however, because the digital phone network in Australia does not allow compatibility. For this reason, and because of other features, Deaf people have become avid users of SMS (Harper). An especially favoured device in Europe has been the Nokia Communicator, with its hinged keyboard. The move from a ‘restricted’, ‘subcultural’ economy to a ‘general’ economy sees mobile texting become incorporated in the semiotic texture and prosaic practices of everyday life. Many users were already familiar with the new conventions already developed around electronic mail, with shorter, crisper messages sent and received — more conversation-like than other correspondence. Unlike phone calls, email is asynchronous. The sender can respond immediately, and the reply will be received with seconds. However, they can also choose to reply at their leisure. Similarly, for the adept user, SMS offers considerable advantages over voice communications, because it makes textual production mobile. Writing and reading can take place wherever a mobile phone can be turned on: in the street, on the train, in the club, in the lecture theatre, in bed. The body writes differently too. Writing with a pen takes a finger and thumb. Typing on a keyboard requires between two and ten fingers. The mobile phone uses the ‘fifth finger’ — the thumb. Always too early, and too late, to speculate on contemporary culture (Morris), it is worth analyzing the textuality of mobile text. Theorists of media, especially television, have insisted on understanding the specific textual modes of different cultural forms. We are familiar with this imperative, and other methods of making visible and decentring structures of text, and the institutions which animate and frame them (whether author or producer; reader or audience; the cultural expectations encoded in genre; the inscriptions in technology). In formal terms, mobile text can be described as involving elision, great compression, and open-endedness. Its channels of communication physically constrain the composition of a very long single text message. Imagine sending James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake in one text message. How long would it take to key in this exemplar of the disintegration of the cultural form of the novel? How long would it take to read? How would one navigate the text? Imagine sending the Courier-Mail or Financial Review newspaper over a series of text messages? The concept of the ‘news’, with all its cultural baggage, is being reconfigured by mobile text — more along the lines of the older technology of the telegraph, perhaps: a few words suffices to signify what is important. Mobile textuality, then, involves a radical fragmentation and unpredictable seriality of text lexia (Barthes). Sometimes a mobile text looks singular: saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’, or sending your name and ID number to obtain your high school or university results. Yet, like a telephone conversation, or any text perhaps, its structure is always predicated upon, and haunted by, the other. Its imagined reader always has a mobile phone too, little time, no fixed address (except that hailed by the network’s radio transmitter), and a finger poised to respond. Mobile text has structure and channels. Yet, like all text, our reading and writing of it reworks those fixities and makes destabilizes our ‘clear’ communication. After all, mobile textuality has a set of new pre-conditions and fragilities. It introduces new sorts of ‘noise’ to signal problems to annoy those theorists cleaving to the Shannon and Weaver linear model of communication; signals often drop out; there is a network confirmation (and message displayed) that text messages have been sent, but no system guarantee that they have been received. Our friend or service provider might text us back, but how do we know that they got our text message? Commodity We are familiar now with the pleasures of mobile text, the smile of alerting a friend to our arrival, celebrating good news, jilting a lover, making a threat, firing a worker, flirting and picking-up. Text culture has a new vector of mobility, invented by its users, but now coveted and commodified by businesses who did not see it coming in the first place. Nimble in its keystrokes, rich in expressivity and cultural invention, but relatively rudimentary in its technical characteristics, mobile text culture has finally registered in the boardrooms of communications companies. Not only is SMS the preferred medium of mobile phone users to keep in touch with each other, SMS has insinuated itself into previously separate communication industries arenas. In 2002-2003 SMS became firmly established in television broadcasting. Finally, interactive television had arrived after many years of prototyping and being heralded. The keenly awaited back-channel for television arrives courtesy not of cable or satellite television, nor an extra fixed-phone line. It’s the mobile phone, stupid! Big Brother was not only a watershed in reality television, but also in convergent media. Less obvious perhaps than supplementary viewing, or biographies, or chat on Big Brother websites around the world was the use of SMS for voting. SMS is now routinely used by mainstream television channels for viewer feedback, contest entry, and program information. As well as its widespread deployment in broadcasting, mobile text culture has been the language of prosaic, everyday transactions. Slipping into a café at Bronte Beach in Sydney, why not pay your parking meter via SMS? You’ll even receive a warning when your time is up. The mobile is becoming the ‘electronic purse’, with SMS providing its syntax and sentences. The belated ingenuity of those fascinated by the economics of mobile text has also coincided with a technological reworking of its possibilities, with new implications for its semiotic possibilities. Multimedia messaging (MMS) has now been deployed, on capable digital phones (an instance of what has been called 2.5 generation [G] digital phones) and third-generation networks. MMS allows images, video, and audio to be communicated. At one level, this sort of capability can be user-generated, as in the popularity of mobiles that take pictures and send these to other users. Television broadcasters are also interested in the capability to send video clips of favourite programs to viewers. Not content with the revenues raised from millions of standard-priced SMS, and now MMS transactions, commercial participants along the value chain are keenly awaiting the deployment of what is called ‘premium rate’ SMS and MMS services. These services will involve the delivery of desirable content via SMS and MMS, and be priced at a premium. Products and services are likely to include: one-to-one textchat; subscription services (content delivered on handset); multi-party text chat (such as chat rooms); adult entertainment services; multi-part messages (such as text communications plus downloads); download of video or ringtones. In August 2003, one text-chat service charged $4.40 for a pair of SMS. Pwr At the end of 2003, we have scarcely registered the textual practices and systems in mobile text, a culture that sprang up in the interstices of telecommunications. It may be urgent that we do think about the stakes here, as SMS is being extended and commodified. There are obvious and serious policy issues in premium rate SMS and MMS services, and questions concerning the political economy in which these are embedded. Yet there are cultural questions too, with intricate ramifications. How do we understand the effects of mobile textuality, rewriting the telephone book for this new cultural form (Ronell). What are the new genres emerging? And what are the implications for cultural practice and policy? Does it matter, for instance, that new MMS and 3rd generation mobile platforms are not being designed or offered with any-to-any capabilities in mind: allowing any user to upload and send multimedia communications to other any. True, as the example of SMS shows, the inventiveness of users is difficult to foresee and predict, and so new forms of mobile text may have all sorts of relationships with content and communication. However, there are worrying signs of these developing mobile circuits being programmed for narrow channels of retail purchase of cultural products rather than open-source, open-architecture, publicly usable nodes of connection. Works Cited Agar, Jon. Constant Touch: A Global History of the Mobile Phone. Cambridge: Icon, 2003. Barthes, Roland. S/Z. Trans. Richard Miller. New York: Hill & Wang, 1974. Brown, Barry, Green, Nicola, and Harper, Richard, eds. Wireless World: Social, Cultural, and Interactional Aspects of the Mobile Age. London: Springer Verlag, 2001. Butcher, Melissa, and Thomas, Mandy, eds. Ingenious: Emerging youth cultures in urban Australia. Melbourne: Pluto, 2003. Galvin, Michael. ‘September 11 and the Logistics of Communication.’ Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies 17.3 (2003): 303-13. Goggin, Gerard, and Newell, Christopher. Digital Disability: The Social Construction of Digital in New Media. Lanham, MA: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. Harper, Phil. ‘Networking the Deaf Nation.’ Australian Journal of Communication 30. 3 (2003), in press. International Telecommunications Union (ITU). ‘Mobile Cellular, subscribers per 100 people.’ World Telecommunication Indicators <http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/> accessed 13 October 2003. Katz, James E., and Aakhus, Mark, eds. Perpetual Contact: Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 2002. Morris, Meaghan. Too Soon, Too Late: History in Popular Culture. Bloomington and Indianapolis: U of Indiana P, 1998. Plant, Sadie. On the Mobile: The Effects of Mobile Telephones on Social and Individual Life. < http://www.motorola.com/mot/documents/0,1028,296,00.pdf> accessed 5 October 2003. Ronell, Avital. The Telephone Book: Technology—schizophrenia—electric speech. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1989. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Goggin, Gerard. "‘mobile text’" M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture <http://www.media-culture.org.au/0401/03-goggin.php>. APA Style Goggin, G. (2004, Jan 12). ‘mobile text’. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture, 7, <http://www.media-culture.org.au/0401/03-goggin.php>

The story of Barbie is a tapestry woven with threads of cultural significance, societal shifts, and corporate narratives. It’s a tale that encapsulates the evolution of American post-war capitalism, mirroring the changing tides of social norms, aspirations, and identities. Barbie’s journey from Germany to Los Angeles, along the way becoming a global icon, is a testament to the power of Ruth Handler’s vision and Barbie’s marketing. Barbie embodies and reflects the rise of mass consumption and the early days of television advertising, where one doll could become a household name and shape the dreams of children worldwide. The controversies and criticisms surrounding Barbie – from promoting a ‘thin ideal’ to perpetuating gender and racial stereotypes – highlight the complexities of representation in popular culture. Yet, Barbie’s enduring message, “You can be anything”, continues to inspire and empower, even as it evolves to embrace a more inclusive and diverse portrayals of power, beauty, and potential. Barbie’s story is not just about a doll; it’s about the aspirations she represents, the societal changes she’s witnessed, and the ongoing conversation about her impact on gender roles, body image, and consumer culture. It’s a narrative that continues to unfold, as Barbie adapts to the times and remains a symbol of possibility. Barbie: A Popular Culture Icon “It is impossible to conceive of the toy industry as being anything other than dependent on a popular culture which shapes and structures the meanings carried by toys” (Fleming 40). The relationship between toys and popular culture is symbiotic. While popular culture influences the creation of toys, toys also contribute to the spread and longevity of cultural icons and narratives. Today, one of the most influential, popular, and contested toys of the twentieth century is Mattel’s Barbie doll. Her launch at the New York Toy Fair on 9 March 1959 by Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler was a game-changer in the toy industry. Her adult appearance, symbolised by her fashionable swimsuit and ponytail, was a bold move by Mattel. Despite the doubts from the toy industry which thought nobody would want to play with a doll that had breasts (Tamkin) and Mattel’s skepticism of its commercial success (Westenhouser 14), Barbie was a success, selling over 350,000 units in her first year, and she quickly became an iconic figure, paving the way for other male and female adult dolls. For the first time in mid-century America, Barbie meant children could play with a doll that looked like a woman, not a little girl or a baby. In a 1965 interview, Ruth Handler argued that American girls needed a doll with a “teen-age figure and a lot of glorious, imaginative, high-fashion clothes” (cited in Giacomin and Lubinski 3). In a 1993 interview, Handler said it was “important that Barbie allowed play situations that little girls could project themselves into … to imagine, pretend and to fantasize”. Hence Ruth Handler’s Barbie could be an “avatar for girls to project their dreams onto” (Southwell). Barbie hit the market with a “sassy ponytail, heavy eyeliner, a healthy dose of side-eye and a distinctly adult body” (Blackmore). Her arched eyebrows were matched with a coy sideways glance reflecting her sexual origins (Thong). Mattel did not reveal that Ruth Handler’s Barbie was inspired by a German novelty men’s toy, Bild Lilli, which Handler had purchased on a European holiday in 1955. Mattel fought several lawsuits and eventually secured the rights to Bild Lilli in 1964, which required the German maker of the Bild Lilli doll to not make her again. Barbie dolls, both blonde and brunette, changed little until 1967, when Mattel launch the ‘new’ Barbie doll which is the foundation for today’s Stereotypical Barbie. The same size as the original, thanks to Mattel engineer Jack Ryan she could twist and turn at the waist. Her facial features were softened, she had ‘real’ eyelashes’ and took on an ‘outdoor look’. The new 1967 version of Barbie originally retailed for US$3.00. Mattel, assuming consumers may not want to buy a new Barbie when they already had one, offered buyers the new Barbie at US$1.50 if they traded in their old 1950s Barbie. The television advertising campaign for the new Barbie featured Maureen McMormick (who would go on to play Marcia Brady in the TV series The Brady Bunch from 1969 to 1974). The original #1 Barbie today sells for over US$25,000 (Reinhard). The most expensive Barbie sold to date was a Stefano Canturi-designed Barbie that sold in 2010 for US$302,500 at Christies in New York (Clarendon). Barbie has been described as “the most successful doll in history”, “the most popular toy in history”, the “empress of fashion dolls” (Rogers 86), the “most famous doll in the world” (Ferorelli), the biggest-selling fashion doll in history (Green and Gellene), and is one if the world’s “most commercially successful toys” (Fleming 41). Barbie is both “idealistic and materialistic” and characterises an “American fantasy” (Tamkin). More so, she is a popular culture icon and “a unique indicator of women’s history” (Vander Bent). The inclusion of Barbie in America’s twentieth-century Time Capsule “cemented her status as a true American icon” (Ford), as did Andy Warhol when he iconised Barbie in his 1968 painting of her (Moore). During the 1950s and 1960s, Barbie’s name was licenced to over 100 companies; while a strategic move that expanded Barbie’s brand presence, it also provided Mattel with substantial royalty payments for decades. This approach helped solidify Barbie’s status as a cultural icon and enabled her to become a lucrative asset for Mattel (Rogers). Sixty-five years later, Barbie has 99% global brand awareness. In 2021, Mattel shipped more than 86 million Barbies globally, manufacturing 164 Barbies a minute (Tomkins). In 2022, Barbie generated gross sales of US$1.49 billion (Statista 2023). With this fiscal longevity and brand recognition, the success of the Barbie film is not surprising. The 2023 film, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Australian Margot Robbie as Barbie and Canadian Ryan Gosling as Ken, as of March 2024 has a global box office revenue of US$1.45 billion, making it the 14th most successful movie of all time and the most successful movie directed by a woman (Statista 2024). Contested Barbie Despite her popularity, Barbie has been the subject of controversy. Original Barbie’s proportions have been criticised for promoting an unrealistic body image (Thong). Barbie’s appearance has received numerous critiques for “representing an unrealistic beauty standard through its former limited skin tone and hair combination” (Lopez). The original Barbie’s measurements, if scaled to life-size, would mean Barbie is unusually tall and has a slim figure, with a height of 5 feet 9 inches, a waist of just 18 inches, and hips of approximately 33 inches. Her bust would measure around 32 inches with an under-bust of 22 inches, and her shoulder width would be approximately 28 inches. Original Barbie’s legs, which are proportionally longer than an average human’s, would make up more than half her height (Thong). A 1996 Australian study scaled Barbie and Ken to adult sizes and compared this with the physical proportions of a range of women and men. They found that the likelihood of finding a man of comparable shape to Ken was 1 in 50. Barbie was more problematic. The chance of a woman being the same proportion as Barbie was 1 in 100,000 (Norton et al. 287). In 2011, The Huffington Post’s Galia Slayen built a life-sized Barbie based on Barbie’s body measurements for National Eating Disorder Awareness Week. Slayen concluded that “if Barbie was a real woman, she’d have to walk on all fours due to her proportions”. One report found that if Barbie’s measurements were those of a real woman her “bones would be so frail, it would be impossible for her to walk, and she would only have half a liver” (Golgowski). A 2006 study found that Barbie is a “possible cause” for young girls’ “body dissatisfaction”. In this study, 162 girls from age 5 to 8 were exposed to images of a thin doll (Barbie), a plus-size doll (US doll Emme, size 16), or no doll, and then completed assessments of body image. Girls exposed to Barbie reported “lower body esteem and greater desire for a thinner body shape than girls in the other exposure conditions”. The study concluded that “early exposure to dolls epitomizing an unrealistically thin body ideal may damage girls' body image, which would contribute to an increased risk of disordered eating and weight cycling” (Dittman and Halliwell 283). Another study in 2016 found that “exposure to Barbie” led to “higher thin-ideal internalization”, but found that Barbie had no “impact on body esteem or body dissatisfaction” (Rice et al. 142). In response to such criticism, Mattel slowly introduced a variety of Barbie dolls with more diverse body types, including tall, petite, and curvy models (Tamkin). These changes aim to reflect a broader range of beauty standards and promote a more positive body image. Barbie has always had to accommodate social norms. For this reason, Barbie always must have underpants, and has no nipples. One of the reasons why Ruth Handler’s husband Elliott (also a co-founder of Mattel) was initially against producing the Barbie doll was that she had breasts, reportedly saying mothers would not buy their daughters a doll with breasts (Gerber). Margot Robbie, on playing Barbie, told one news outlet that while Barbie is “sexualized”, she “should never be sexy” (Aguirre). Early prototypes of Barbie made in Japan in the 1950s sexualised her body, leaving her to look like a prostitute. In response, Mattel hired film make-up artist Bud Westmore to redo Barbie’s face and hair with a softer look. Mattel also removed the nipples from the prototypes (Gerber). Barbie’s body and fashion have always seemed to “replicate history and show what was what was happening at the time” (Mowbray), and they also reflect how the female body is continually surveilled. Feminists have had a long history of criticism of Barbie, particularly her projection of the thin ideal. At the 1970 New York Women’s Strike for Equality, feminists shouted “I am not a Barbie doll!” Such debates exemplify the role and impact of toys in shaping and reforming societal norms and expectations. Even the more recent debates regarding the 2023 Barbie film show that Barbie is still a “lightning rod for the messy, knotty contradictions of feminism, sexism, misogyny and body image” (Chappet). Decades of criticism about Barbie, her meaning and influence, have left some to ask “Is Barbie a feminist icon, or a doll which props up the patriarchy?” Of course, she’s both, because “like all real women, Barbie has always been expected to conform to impossible standards” (Chappet). Diversifying Barbie Over the decades Mattel has slowly changed Barbie’s body, including early versions of a black Barbie-like dolls in the 1960s and 1970s such as Francie, Christie, Julia, and Cara. However, it was not until 1980 that Mattel introduced the first black Barbie. African American fashion designer Kitty Black-Perkins, who worked for Mattel from 1971, was the principal designer for black Barbie, saying that “there was a need for the little Black girl to really have something she could play with that looked like her” (cited in Lafond). Black Barbie was marketed as She’s black! She’s beautiful! She’s dynamite! The following year, Asian Barbie was introduced. She was criticised for her nondescript country of origin and dressed in an “outfit that was a mishmash of Chinese, Korean and Japanese ethnic costumes” (Wong). More recently, the Asian Barbies were again criticised for portraying stereotypes, with a recent Asian Barbie dressed as a veterinarian caring for pandas, and Asian violinist Barbie with accompanying violin props, reflecting typical stereotypes of Asians in the US (Wong). In 2016, Mattel introduced a range of Barbie and Ken dolls with seven body types, including more curvy body shapes, 11 skin tones and 28 hairstyles (Siazon). In 2019, other Barbie body types appeared, with smaller busts, less defined waist, and more defined arms. The 2019 range also included Barbies with permanent physical disabilities, one using a wheelchair and one with a prosthetic leg (Siazon). Wheelchair Barbie comes with a wheelchair, and her body has 22 joints for body movement while sitting in the wheelchair. The Prosthetic Barbie comes with a prosthetic leg which can be removed, and was made in collaboration with Jordan Reeve, a 13-year-old disability activist born without a left forearm. In 2020, a No Hair Barbie and a Barbie with the skin condition vitiligo were introduced, and in 2022, Hearing Aid Barbie was also launched. In 2022 other changes were made to Barbie’s and Ken’s bodies, with bodies that became fuller figured and Kens with smaller chests and less masculine body shapes (Dolan). Down Syndrome Barbie was released in 2023, designed in collaboration with the US National Down Syndrome Society to ensure accurate representation. By 2024, Barbie dolls come in 35 skin tones, 97 hairstyles, and nine body types (Mattel 2024). Spanning hundreds of iterations, today the Barbie doll is no longer a homogenous, blond-haired, blue-eyed toy, but rather an evolving social phenomenon, adapting with the times and the markets Mattel expands into. With dolls of numerous ethnicities and body types, Barbie has also embraced inclusivity, catering to the plethora of different consumers across the world (Green and Gellene 1989). Career Barbie While not dismissing Barbie’s problematic place in feminist, gender and racial critiques, Barbie has always been a social influencer. Her early years were marked by a variety of makeovers and modernisations, as have recent changes to Barbie’s body, reflecting the changing social norms of the times. Stereotypical Barbie had her first major makeover in 1961, with her ponytail swapped for a short ‘Bubble Bob’ hairstyle inspired by Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, reflecting women’s emerging social independence (Foreman). In the early 1970s, Barbie’s original demure face with averted eyes was replaced by a new one that “depicted confidence and a forward-facing gaze” (Vander Bent). Her “soft look” was a departure from the mature image of the original 1959 Barbie (Lafond). The ‘soft look’ on Malibu Barbie with her newly sculpted face featured an open smile for the first time, as well as sun-tanned, make-up free skin and sun-kissed blonde hair. The disappearance of Barbie’s coy, sideways glance and the introduction of forward-looking eyes was a development “welcomed by feminists” (Ford). Barbie’s early makeovers, along with her fashion and accessories, including her homes, cars, and pets, contributed to shaping her image as a fashionable and independent woman. Barbie’s various careers and roles have been used to promote ideas of female empowerment. From astronaut to presidential candidate, Barbie has broken barriers in traditionally male-dominated fields. However, the effectiveness of these efforts in promoting female empowerment is a topic of debate. The post-war period in America saw a significant shift in the pattern of living, with a move from urban areas to the suburbs. This was facilitated by a robust post-war economy, favourable government policies like the GI Bill, and increasing urbanisation. The GI Bill played a crucial role by providing low-interest home loans to veterans, making home ownership accessible to a large segment of the population. It was a significant transformation of the American lifestyle and shaped the country’s socio-economic landscape. It is in this context that Barbie’s first Dreamhouse was introduced in the early 1960s, with its mid-century modern décor, hi-fi stereo, and slim-line furniture. This was at a time when most American women could not get a mortgage. Barbie got her first car in 1962, a peach-colored Austin-Healey 3000 MKII convertible, followed short afterwards by a Porsche 911. She has also owned a pink Jaguar XJS, a pink Mustang, a red Ferrari, and a Corvette. Barbie’s car choices of luxurious convertibles spoke to Barbie’s social and economic success. In 1998, Barbie became a NASCAR driver and also signed up to race in a Ferrari in the Formula 1. Barbie’s ‘I Can Be Anything’ range from 2008 was designed to draw kids playing with the dolls toward ambitious careers; one of those careers was as a race car driver (Southwell). While Barbie’s first job as a baby-sitter was not as glamourous or well-paying as her most of her other over 250 careers, it does reflect the cultural landscape Barbie was living in in the 1960s. Babysitter Barbie (1963) featured Barbie wearing a long, pink-striped skirt with ‘babysitter’ emblasoned along the hem and thick-framed glasses. She came with a baby in a crib, a telephone, bottles of soda, and a book. The book was called How to Lose Weight and had only two words of advice, ‘Don’t Eat’. Even though there was a backlash to the extreme dieting advice, Mattel included the book in the 1965 Slumber Party Barbie. Barbie wore pink silk pajamas with a matching robe and came prepared for her sleepover with toiletries, a mirror, the controversial diet book, and a set of scales permanently set at 110 pounds (approx. 50kg), which caused further backlash (Ford). Barbie’s early careers were those either acceptable or accessible to women of the era, such as the Fashion Designer Barbie (1960), Flight Attendant Barbie (1961), and Nurse Barbie (1962). However, in 1965 Barbie went into space, two years after cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space, and four years before the American moon landing. Barbie’s career stagnated in the 1970s, and she spends the decade being sports Barbie, perhaps as a response to her unpopularity among vocal second wave feminists and reflecting the economic downturn of the era. America’s shift to the right in the 1980s saw in the introduction of the Yuppie, the young urban professional who lived in the city, had a high-powered career, and was consumption-driven. More women were entering the workforce than ever before. Barbie also entered the workforce, spending less time doing the passive leisure of her earlier self (Ford). It also signals the beginning of neoliberalism in America, and a shift to individualism and the rise of the free market ethos. In 1985, Day-to-Night Barbie was sold as the first CEO Barbie who “could go from running the boardroom in her pink power suit to a fun night out on the town”. For Mattel she “celebrated the workplace evolution of the era and showed girls they could have it all”. But despite Barbie’s early careers, the focus was on her "emphasized femininity”, meaning that while she was now a career woman, her appearance and demeanor did not reflect her job. Astronaut Barbie (1985) is a good example of Barbie’s ‘emphasised femininity’ in how career Barbies were designed and dressed. Astronaut Barbie is clearly reflecting the fashion and culture trends of the 1980s by going into space in a “shiny, hot pink spacesuit”, comes with a second space outfit, a shiny “peplum miniskirt worn over silver leggings and knee-high pink boots” (Bertschi), and her hair is too big to fit into the helmet. A dark-skinned US Astronaut Barbie was released in 1994, which coincided with the start of the Shuttle-Mir Program, a collaboration between the US and Russia which between 1994 and 1998 would see seven American astronauts spend almost 1,000 days living in orbit with Russian cosmonauts on the Mir space station. Throughout the 1990s, Barbie increasingly takes on careers more typically considered to be male careers. But again, her femininity in design, dressing and packaging takes precedence over her career. Police Officer Barbie (1993), for example, has no gun or handcuffs. Instead, she comes with a "glittery evening dress" to wear to the awards dance where she will get the "Best Police Officer Award for her courageous acts in the community”. Police Office Barbie is pictured on the box "lov[ing] to teach safety tips to children". Barbie thus “feminizes, even maternalises, law enforcement” (Rogers 14). In 1992, Teen Talk Barbie was released. She had a voice box programmed to speak four distinct phrases out of a possible 270. She sold for US$25, and Mattel produced 350,000, expecting its popularity. The phrases included ‘I Love Shopping’ and ‘Math class is tough’. The phrase ‘Math class is tough’ was seen by many as reinforcing harmful stereotypes about girls and math. The National Council of American Teachers of Maths objected, as did the American Association of University Women (NYT 1992). In response to criticisms of the gendered representations of Barbie’s careers, Mattel have more recently featured Barbie in science and technology fields including Paleontologist Barbie (1996 and 2012), Computer Engineer Barbie (2010), Robotics Engineer Barbie (2018), Astrophysicist Barbie (2019), Wildlife Conservationist Barbie, Entomologist Barbie (2019), and Polar Marine Biologist Barbie (all in collaboration with National Geographic), Robotics Engineer Barbie (2018), Zoologist Barbie (2021), and Renewable Energy Barbie (2022), which go some way to providing representations that at least encompass the ideal that ‘Girls Can Do Anything’. Barbie over her lifetime has also taken on swimming, track and field, and has been a gymnast. Barbie was an Olympic gold medallist in the 1970s, with Mattel releasing four Barbie Olympians between 1975 and 1976, arguably cashing in on the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Gold Medal Barbie Doll Skier was dressed in a red, white, and blue ski suit completed with her gold medal. Gold Medal Barbie Doll is an Olympic swimmer wearing a red, white, and blue tricot swimsuit, and again wears an Olympic gold medal around her neck. The doll was also produced as a Canadian Olympian wearing a red and white swimsuit. Gold Medal Barbie Skater looks like Barbie Malibu and is dressed in a long-sleeved, pleated dress in red, white, and blue. The outfit included white ice skates and her gold medal. Mattel also made a Gold Medal P.J. Gymnast Doll who vaulted and somersaulted in a leotard of red, white, and blue tricot. She had a warm-up jacket with white sleeves, red cuffs, white slippers, and a gold medal. Mattel, as part of a licencing agreement with the International Olympic Committee, produced a range of toys for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The collection of five Barbies represented the new sports added to the 2020 Olympics: baseball and softball, sport climbing, karate, skateboarding, and surfing. Each Barbie was dressed in a sport-specific uniform and had a gold medal. Barbie Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Surfer, for example, was dressed in a pink wetsuit top, with an orange surfboard and a Tokyo 2020 jacket. For the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, Mattel released a new collection of Barbie dolls featuring among others a para-skiing Barbie who sits on adaptive skis and comes with a championship medal (Douglas). As part of Mattel’s 2023 Barbie Career of the Year doll, the Women in Sports Barbie range shows Barbie in leadership roles in the sports industry, as manager, coach, referee, and sport reporter. General Manager Barbie wears a blue-and-white pinstripe suit accessorised with her staff pass and a smartphone. Coach Barbie has a pink megaphone, playbook, and wears a two-piece pink jacket and athletic shorts. Referee Barbie wears a headset and has a whistle. Sports Reporter Barbie wears a purple, geometric-patterned dress and carries a pink tablet and microphone (Jones). Political Barbie Barbie has run for president in every election year since 1992. The first President Barbie came with an American-themed dress for an inaugural ball and a red suit for her duties in the Oval Office. In 2016, Barbie released an all-female presidential ticket campaign set with a president and vice-president doll. The 2000 President Barbie doll wore a blue pantsuit and featured a short bob cut, red lipstick pearl necklace, and a red gown to change into, “presumably for President Barbie’s inaugural ball” (Lafond). This followed the introduction of UNICEF Ambassador Barbie in 1989. She is packaged as a member of the United States Committee for UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund), which is mandated to provide humanitarian and development aid to children worldwide. Rather problematically, and again with a focus on her femininity rather than the importance of the organisation she represents, she wears a glittery white and blue full length ball gown with star patterning and a red sash. While some proceeds did go to the US Committee for UNICEF, the dressing and packaging featuring an American flag overshadows the career and its philanthropic message. The period signalled the end of the Cold War and was also the year the United States invaded Panama, resulting in a humanitarian disaster when US military forces attacked urban areas in order to overthrow the Noriega administration. Military Barbie Barbie has served in every US military branch (Sicard). Barbie joined the US army in 1989, wearing a female officer’s evening uniform, though with no sense of what she did. While it may be thought Barbie would increase female in interest in a military career, at the time more women were already enlisting that in any other period from the early 1970s to 2012 (Stillwell). Barbie rejoined the army for the 1990-1991 Gulf War, wearing a Desert Combat Uniform and the 101st Airborne "Screaming Eagle" patch, and serving as a medic. Barbie also joined the Air Force in 1990, three years before Jeannie Leavitt became the first female Air Force fighter pilot. Barbie wore a green flight suit and leather jacket, and gold-trimmed flight cap. She was a fighter pilot and in 1994, she joined the USAF aerial demonstration team, The Thunderbirds. Busy in the 1990s, she also enlisted in the US Navy wearing women's Navy whites. Marine Corps Barbie appeared in 1992, wearing service and conduct medals (Stillwell). All of Barbie’s uniforms were approved by the Pentagon (Military Women’s Memorial). The 2000 Paratrooper Barbie Special Edition was released with the packaging declaring “let’s make a support drop with first aid and food boxes”. She was dressed in undefined military attire which includes a helmet, dog tags, parachute, boots, and hairbrush. Barbie’s Influence In 2014, Barbie became a social media influencer with the launch of the @barbiestyle Instagram account, and in 2015, Barbie launched a vlog on YouTube to talk directly to girls about issues they face. The animated series features Barbie discussing a range of topics including depression, bullying, the health benefits of meditation, and how girls have a habit of apologising when they don’t have anything to be sorry about. The Official @Barbie YouTube channel has over eleven million global subscribers and 23 billion minutes of content watched, making Barbie the #1 girls’ brand on YouTube. Barbie apps average more than 7 million monthly active users and the Instagram count boasts over 2 million followers. The 2023 Barbie film really does attest to Barbie’s influence 70 years after her debut. Barbie, as this article has shown, is more than an influencer and more than a doll, if she ever really was only a doll. She is a popular culture icon, regardless of whether we love her or not. Barbie has sometimes been ahead of the game, and sometimes has been problematically represented, but she has always been influential. Her body, race, ability, careers, independence, and political aspirations have spoken different things to those who play with her. She is fiercely defended, strongly criticised, and shirks from neither. She is also liberating, empowering, straight, and queer. As the articles in this issue reflect, Barbie, it seems, really can be anything. Imagining and Interrogating Barbie in Popular Culture The feature article in this issue outlines how Australian Barbie fans in the 1960s expressed their creativity through the designing and making of their own wardrobes for the doll. Through examining articles from the Australian Women’s Weekly, Donna Lee Brien reveals this rich cultural engagement that was partly driven by thrift, and mostly by enjoyment. Eva Boesenberg examines the social and environmental effects of a plastic doll that is positioned as an ecological ambassador. While there is no doubt that climate change is one of our most pressing social issues, Boesenberg questions the motivations behind Barbie’s eco-crusade: is she an apt role-model to teach children the importance of environmental issues, or is this just a case of corporate greenwashing? Emma Caroll Hudson shifts the focus to entertainment, with an exploration of the marketing of the 2023 blockbuster film Barbie. Here she argues that the marketing campaign was highly successful, utilising a multi-faceted approach centred on fan participation. She highlights key components of the campaign to reveal valuable insights into how marketing can foster a cultural phenomenon. Revna Altiok’s article zooms in on the depiction of Ken in the 2023 film, revealing his characterisation to be that of a ‘manic pixie dream boy’ whose lack of identity propels him on a journey to self-discovery. This positioning, argues Altiok, pulls into focus social questions around gender dynamics and how progress can be truly achieved. Rachel Wang turns the spotlight to Asian identity within the Barbie world, revealing how from early iterations a vague ‘Oriental’ Barbie was accompanied by cultural stereotyping. Despite later, more nuanced interpretations of country-specific Asian dolls, problematic features remained embedded. This, Wang argues, positions Asian Barbies as the racial ‘other’. Kaela Joseph, Tanya Cook, and Alena Karkanias’s article examines how the 2023 Barbie film reflects different forms of fandom. Firstly, Joseph interrogates how the Kens’ patriarchal identity is expressed through acts of collective affirmational fandom. Here, individual fans legitimise their positions within the group by mastering and demonstrating their knowledge of popular culture phenomena. Joseph contrasts this with transformational fandom, which is based upon reimagining the source material to create new forms. The transformation of the titular character of the Barbie movie forms the basis of Eli S’s analysis. S examines how the metaphor of ‘unboxing’ the doll provides an avenue through which to understand Barbie’s metamorphosis from constrained doll to aware human as she journeys from the pink plastic Barbie Land to the Real World. Anna Temel turns her critical gaze to how the 2023 film attempts to reposition Barbie’s image away from gender stereotypes to a symbol of feminist empowerment. Director Greta Gerwig, Temel argues, critiques the ‘ideal woman’ and positions Barbie as a vehicle through which contemporary feminism and womanhood can be interrogated. Temel finds that this is not always successfully articulated in the depiction of Barbie in the film. The reading of the Barbie movie’s Barbie Land as an Asexual Utopia is the focus of Anna Maria Broussard’s article. Here Broussard draws the focus to the harmonious community of dolls who live without social expectations of sexuality. Barbie provides a popular culture reflection of the Asexual experience, expressed through Barbie’s rejection of a heteronormative relationship both in Barbie Land and the Real World. Completing this collection is Daisy McManaman’s article interrogating the multiple iterations of the doll’s embodied femininity. Incorporating an ethnographic study of the author’s relationship with the doll, McManaman uncovers that Barbie serves as a site of queer joy and a role model through which to enjoy and explore femininity and gender. These articles have been both intellectually stimulating to edit, and a joy. We hope you enjoy this collection that brings a new academic lens to the popular cultural phenomenon that is Barbie. References Aguirre, Abby. “Barbiemania! Margot Robbie Opens Up about the Movie Everyone’s Waiting For.” Vogue, 24 May 2023. 16 Mar. 2024 <https://www.vogue.com/article/margot-robbie-barbie-summer-cover-2023-interview>. Bertschi, Jenna. “Barbie: An Astronaut for the Ages.” Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, 18 Jul. 2023. 11 Mar. 2024 <https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/barbie-astronaut-ages>. Blackmore, Erin. “Barbie’s Secret Sister Was a German Novelty Doll.” History.com, 14 Jul. 2023. 11 mar. 2024 <https://www.history.com/news/barbie-inspiration-bild-lilli>. 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