• The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, April 22, 2008 11:15 AM

Mattel's struggle to breathe life back into Barbie--more than a year after problems surfaced--shows the ongoing challenge the toy industry faces in attracting the fickle attention of young girls. In many of last year's Barbie lines, for example, the company sought to modernize the doll with more electronic features. But attempts to address the competition posed by iPods and other electronic items have only confused its young customers.

The recent Magic of the Rainbow--a fantasy doll marketed under the Barbie brand--doubled as a remote control, came with a CD-ROM game and featured wings that fluttered at the push of a button. "Girls asked, is this a doll?" says Chuck Scothon, svp of Mattel's girls division. "We put too much in."

Mattel is looking to make Barbie over with a series of changes to simplify. Mariposa, the next in the fantasy line, more clearly resembles a doll, and will be key to its "back-to-the-basics approach." Despite the flattening sales worldwide and a 12% decline in the U.S., the brand remains the No. 1 name in girls' toys.

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