TOYS
JULY 10, 2023
Barbie : The Doll History And Its Dark Origin
It is estimated that a billion Barbie dolls have been sold and Mattel claims around three Barbie dolls are sold every second.
OVERVIEW
Barbie was created by a woman from the United States, Ruth Handler. In 1938, Ruth married Elliot Handler and started a business manufacturing plastic houseware. In 1940 Ruth and Elliot teamed up with industrial designer Harold Maston to create a picture framing business.
They then developed their business by creating plastic dollhouses. The business was named Mattel and focused primarily on creating toys.
THE TRUE ORIGIN
Ruth Handler watched her daughter, Barbara, playing with a paper doll. She saw her child playing with the doll as if communicating with adults. At that time most dolls for children were babies. Realizing this would be a marketing hurdle, Handler had the idea for an adult version of the doll and pitched the idea to her husband, Elliot, founder of the toy company Mattel.
On a trip to Europe in 1956 with her children Barbara and Kenneth, Ruth passed a shop that sold a German doll called Bild Lilli. At that time, her 15-year-old daughter showed her the plastic doll. However, Lilli is not a doll intended for children, but a sex doll or sex toy. In the end Handler purchased three of the dolls, one of which was given to her daughter and the other two to Mattel.
Back in the United States, Handler redesigned the doll with the help of Jack Ryan and gave it a new name inspired by her daughter’s name, Barbie. The full name of the doll is Barbara Millicent Roberts.
In the 1960 novel series Random House, Barbie’s parents, George and Margaret Roberts, come from the fictional town of Willows, Wisconsin. In the novel, Barbie attends Willows High School, and in the 1999 book Generation Girl, she attends a fictional Manhattan International High School in New York City.
THE BIRTH OF A LEGEND
Barbie doll made its first appearance at the American International Toy Fair in New York on March 9, 1959 and reportedly sold around 350 thousand units in its first year. This date is also designated as the doll’s birthday. The standard size for Barbie dolls and accessories is 1:6 scale and is also known as playscale. The standard doll size is around 11½ inches.
This first Barbie was released in two versions; one with blonde hair and one with brown or brunette hair, both with ponytails and curly bangs. The first Barbie also wore a black and white striped strapless swimsuit, a pair of gold earrings, and black high heels.
However, Louis Marx company that owns the license “Lilli” saw similarities in their dolls to Barbie. As a result, in 1961 they officially sued Mattel. The lawsuit was settled in 1963 and led to Mattel buying the “Lilli” license from the German manufacturer Greiner & Hausser in 1964.
In the end, Mattel agreed not to market the doll under the “Lilli” name and G&H agreed not to make dolls that looked like Barbie.
COUPLE AND RELATIVES
In 1961, the boy version of the doll, introduced as Ken, was finally released as Barbie’s couple. It was inspired by the real world, named after Ruth’s son, Kenneth.
In 1963, Barbie got a new character as a close friend named Midge and in 1964, Barbie also had a younger sister named Skipper.
Barbie’s appearance continues to be updated, as was evident in 1971 when the Barbie doll already had more defined eyes than previous models.
Barbie is one of many toys that focus on television marketing. It’s estimated that a billion Barbie dolls have been sold in 150 countries, and Mattel claims around three Barbie dolls are sold every second. As of 2021, Mattel sold more than 86 million dolls from the Barbie world.
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