A RCMP officer is seen during a traffic stop with a man and a toy truck on a roadway in Prince George, B.C., in a Sept. 5 handout photo.HO/The Canadian Press
On September 5, Kasper Lincoln was stopped by the RCMP for driving a Power Wheel Barbie Jammin’ Jeep Wrangler on main thoroughfares while under the influence of alcohol.
Lincoln, a resident of Prince George, B.C., told CBC News that he was craving a Slurpee but “got lazy” and decided to drive his roommate’s kid’s Barbie car. According to the CBC, the RCMP pulled him over for a traffic stop “and in the course of talking to him, found he had a suspended licence and believed he was inebriated, later verified by two breath analysis tests.”
It’s unlikely that Mattel’s copywriters were thinking of drunk adult males when they wrote the words “Gear up for music-filled driving adventures in this Barbie™ Jammin’ Jeep® Wrangler.”
And yet, perhaps they should have.
This is not the first time an adult male has been stopped by police for getting hammered and misusing Barbie’s beloved car, which today comes with Fresh Barbie graphics and styling, easy open and close doors, pretend radio preloaded with six jammin’ tunes, Power Lock Brakes, a roomy rear storage area and an engine that cruises between four and eight kilometres an hour.
In 2010, 40-year-old Briton Paul Hutton, a former RAF aeronautical engineer, was pinched for drunk driving a pink and white Barbie jeep. Hutton, who was found to be over twice the legal blood alcohol limit, had been rebuilding the vintage Barbie car with his 17-year-old son. According to the Daily Mail, “Mr. Hutton had been drinking on March 28 when he decided to show the jeep off to a friend who lives just 500 yards away. Police spotted him at 9 p.m. with his knees tucked up under his chin ambling along Brooklands Road, which is named after the motor racing circuit. He was arrested when he ignored warnings for him to stop and tried to make a very slow getaway. ‘The police car came up alongside me and the officer said, ‘Are you all right there?’ he said. ‘When I tried to talk I realized how drunk I was.’”
While Paul Hutton and Kasper Lincoln’s crimes are almost identical – Hutton’s Barbie Jeep Wrangler did not have Fresh Barbie graphics – the reaction and fall out could not be more different. In 2010, the media declared Hutton “a complete twit.” Hutton was contrite and ashamed of his stunt.
Meanwhile, according to the CBC, “Lincoln is embracing his fame.” Lincoln, who appears to have been wearing a T-shirt that read “Let’s Do it the Dumbest Way Possible” while driving the Barbie jeep, has become a social media meme. He’s not the only one who was impressed by his stunt. Onlookers were wonder-struck. One, who considered the police pulling Lincoln over “a bit overkill” told the CBC, “We were just kind of watching him, living his best life. He was just happy as a clam.... We were actually kind of jealous.”
Lincoln was given a 90-day driving prohibition. It should be noted that he was driving with a suspended license. He told the CBC he plans to fight his ticket. In contrast, Hutton was sentenced to a three-year driving suspension and said at the time he was “not unhappy” with his punishment.
Look, Kasper Lincoln is not Public Enemy No. 1. Kasper Lincoln was not accused of stunt driving at 2.5 times the speed limit (150 kilometres an hour in a 60 zone) as an Ontario driver was recently. He was driving a car made for kids, with, in all likelihood, the wind in his hair. He pushed his pink 12-volt battery child’s car to the max, driving slower than most people walk.
What he was doing, however, was dangerous. He was a danger to himself and he was endangering others – grown men driving pink child’s cars are distracting – and he was doing all this while driving drunk. Would we all be on social media laughing if someone driving a real Jeep squashed Kasper Lincoln in his Power Wheels?
All? No. A few? maybe.
The lack of censure is emblematic of how inured we are to irresponsible driving and driving infractions in general. Drunk driving is drunk driving. Doing it in a Power Wheels Barbie™ Jammin’ Jeep® Wrangler doesn’t make it cute and it is grossly disrespectful to one of the world’s most cherished and revered toys.
It’s like Barbie once said, “Life is a journey, enjoy the ride!”
Just don’t enjoy it if you’re drunk listening to Jammin’ tunes while driving a Power Wheels Barbie Jammin’ Jeep Wrangler.