A group calling itself the Barbie Liberation Organization claimed responsibility for buying up to 300 "Teen Talk" Barbies and Talking Duke G.I. Joe dolls, painstakingly swapping their voice boxes and replacing the dolls on the shelves of toy stores in at least two states, along with a leaflet from the organization. As a result, the Barbie dolls now said things like, "Attack!" "Vengeance is mine!" "Dead men tell no lies!" and "Eat lead, Cobra!" along with blood-curdling war cries. The G.I. Joes, on the other hand, now say things like, "Let's go shopping!" "Will we ever have enough clothes?" and "Let's plan our dream wedding!"

A B.L.O. spokesman, identifying himself as "G.I. Joe," said: "Obviously, our goal is to get media attention. We are trying to make a statement about the way toys can encourage negative behavior in children, particularly given rising acts of violence and sexism." The group of like-minded artists, parents, feminists and anti-war activists coalesced in anger the previous year when they discovered that one of the 200 phrases randomly distributed among the talking Barbie dolls was the complaint that "math class is tough," which the group said reinforced sexual stereotypes.

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