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Barbie, the world's most well-known and best-selling doll, debuted at the American International Toy Fair on March 9, 1959. The doll is produced by Mattel, Inc. The highest-selling Barbie doll in Mattel's history, Totally Hair Barbie (known as "Ultra Hair Barbie" outside the US), was released in 1992.

The majority of Barbie dolls and related accessories are manufactured to approximately .

Contents

Development of the Barbie

In the 1950s Ruth Handler, "creator" of the Barbie doll, noticed that her daughter, Barbara, preferred to play with dolls that resembled adults rather than infants. At that time, most three-dimensional dolls were made to look like babies or small children; however, Barbara preferred playing with paper dolls that looked like adults. Realizing that there was a hole in the marketplace, Handler suggested the idea of a three-dimensional adult-bodied doll to her husband, Elliot Handler, a co-founder of the Mattel toy company, but the idea was scoffed at. Mattel's directors told her that it would be impossible to create such a doll.

However, during a trip to Germany with her daughter, Handler discovered a German doll called the Bild Lilli doll in a shop window. The adult-figured Lilli doll was exactly what Handler had in mind, so she purchased three of them. She gave one to her daughter and took the others back to Mattel.

The Lilli doll was based on a popular character appearing in a comic strip drawn by Reinhard Beuthin for the newspaper Die Bild-Zeitung. Lilli was a fashionable "society girl" who knew what she wanted and wasn't above using men to get it. The Lilli doll was first sold in Germany in 1955. Although the doll was initially marketed to adult men in bars and tobacco shops, it eventually became popular with children, who enjoyed dressing her up in outfits that were available separately. The doll was so popular, she was even exported to other countries, including the United States.

At some point, Mattel acquired the rights to the Lilli doll. A new sculpt was designed (with help from engineer Jack Ryan), the concept was revamped, and the doll was given a new name: Barbie, after Handler's daughter, Barbara. The doll made its debut at the New York International American Toy Fair on March 9, 1959. (This date is also used as Barbie's official "birthday".)

The first Barbie doll wore a black-and-white "zebra-striped" swimsuit and signature topknot ponytail with tightly-curled bangs. The dolls were available either as blonds or brunettes. In succeeding years, Barbie dolls were made available with other hair styles and colors. The doll was marketed as a "Teen-age Fashion Model", so many fashions were available for her as well. Barbie's wardrobe was designed by esteemed Mattel fashion designer Charlotte Johnson, whose inspiration came from the fashion runways of Paris.

Ruth Handler stated that she felt it was "important to a little girl's self-esteem to play with a doll that [had] breasts", believing it would allow them role-play and imagine their future lives as adult women. However, Barbie's exaggerated proportions have always been a point of contention for her detractors. Mattel asserts that Barbie's exaggerated proportions are necessary to allow clothes to fit properly on such a small scale, but many have suggested that Barbie's unrealistic proportions may contribute to self-esteem and body image problems in young girls. Mattel has adjusted Barbie's proportions in recent years as an answer to current fashion trends, but the present Barbie doll body is still uncharacteristic of most women.

The Barbie doll is a $1.9 billion dollar a year industry. Mattel has claimed that approximately three Barbie dolls are sold every second.

Biography of Barbara Millicent Roberts

Barbara Millicent Roberts
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Barbara Millicent Roberts

Barbie's fictional biography has developed with her continued sales. She has been given the fuller name Barbara Millicent Roberts, and a family and friends have been manufactured for her, starting with her beau Ken. Additions to the family tree include Skipper (debut 1964), twins Tutti and Todd (1966, but were discontinued in 1971), Stacie (1992), Kelly (1995), and baby Krissy (1999). Barbie and Ken began dating in 1961, but broke up in early 2004. Rumor has it that the end of their 43 year romance was at least partly due to Ken's reluctance to get married. After a long estrangement, Barbie was reunited with her best friend Midge in the early nineties. Other longstanding friends in Barbie's ethnically diverse social circle include Hispanic Teresa, African-American Christie and Steven (ostensibly Christie's boyfriend), and the ethnically-ambiguous Kayla.

Barbie has been said to attend Willows High School in Willows, Wisconsin and Manhattan International High School in New York City (based on the real-life Stuyvesant High School).

Barbie has thirty-eight recorded pets, including cats and dogs, horses, a panda, a lion cub, and a zebra. Barbie has used her driver's license to the fullest, with pink convertibles, trailers and more. She also has a pilot's license, and operates commercial airliners, when not serving as a flight attendant.

Cultural effect

Barbie has often been used to promote gender equality as an example that women can "be anything". She has taken up many occupations over the years. Here are some of them:

However, recently Barbie's presence in the life of an American girl has been said to be a negative influence. Many groups say that young girls may set the doll as their model, leading to issues with body image and gender role insecurities later in life.

Many designers have been given the opportunity to design clothing for Barbie. Among them are Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Bob Mackie, Nicole Miller, Christian Dior, Escada, Anne Klein, Ralph Lauren, Donatella Versace, Bill Blass,Paul Frank and Juicy Couture

Controversies

Barbie is often looked upon as an icon of Western childhood. Her popularity ensures that her effect on the play of Western children attracts a high degree of scrutiny. The criticisms leveled at her are often based around the idea of children considering Barbie a role model and attempting to emulate her.

The Middle Eastern country of Saudi Arabia outlawed the sale of Barbie dolls on September 10, 2003 for not conforming to the ideals of Islam. In addition, some believe that Saudi authorities determined Barbie to be a Jewish doll, as her creator was of Jewish descent.

"Barbie" is sometimes used as a derogatory slang term for a person, particularly a girl or woman, who is stupid. See bimbo. The phrase "Barbie Doll" is known as a stereotype for blonde hair/blue eyes.

The first of Barbie's black friends, "Colored Francie," debuted in 1967, but racial tensions quickly caused this doll to be discontinued. The first African-American Barbie, "Black Barbie," appeared thirteen years later.

Body image

Modified image of a Barbie doll with an adult Burmese woman's neck ring stack in its original proportions edited in to show just how long Barbie's neck is.
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Modified image of a Barbie doll with an adult Burmese woman's neck ring stack in its original proportions edited in to show just how long Barbie's neck is.

Along with the popularity, more controversial topics occur. Barbie has drawn criticism from parents and anorexia nervosa groups for interfering with the development of a healthy body image. They argue that the images and messages of "beauty". Barbie has problematic measurements: she stands a "too perfect to be real "body shape. A lot of young girls may expect themselves to have the same figure as barbie's and to push themselves to lose weight in order to be as thin as possible, ignorant of the fact that Barbie's proportions are unattainable; her neck is twice as long (in proportion) as the neck of a normal woman and her legs are longer than her torso. It is often quoted that "For a woman to have Barbie's body, she would have to be 7 feet, 2 inches in height; weigh 115-130 pounds; have 30 to 36 inch hips; an 18 to 23 inch waist; and a 38 to 48 inch bust. If she were a real person, Barbie would have to crawl around on all fours just to support her unnatural proportions, and she would not even have the 17 to 22 percent body fat that is required for a woman to menstruate." But when you consider that 1) If Barbie, a sixthscale figure (two inches=one foot), were supposed to be 7 feet tall in real life she'd have to be over 14 inches tall and 2) sixth scale and smaller figures are often made slimmer so that human-scale fabric will not look so bulky on them, then the comments have less bearing on body image reality. Unfortunately, a lot more body image problems have to do with what girls see glorified in the media-women in magazines, movies and TV who will starve themselves into anorexia to be accepted as 'beautiful'.

Stereotyping

The enormous range of available accessories relating to clothes, hair, make-up, parties and looking pretty gave rise to the accusation that Barbie encourages young girls to focus on shallow trivia. Her accessories reflect a lifestyle that is unobtainable for most of the girls who play with her. Of course, few of Barbie's lifestyle critics mention the many career-related outfits, accessories, and themed play items that have been released over the years-it is hard to imagine why judge, doctor, executive, astronaut or firefighter are supposed to be 'shallow'.

This culminated in 1992 when Mattel released "Teen Talk Barbie", a talking version of the doll. It spoke a number of phrases such as, "Will we ever have enough clothes?", "I love shopping!", and "Wanna have a pizza party?" Each doll was programmed to say four out of 270 possible phrases, so chances were good that no two dolls owned by a girl or her friends would be exactly the same. One of these 270 phrases was "Math class is tough!" Although only about 1.5% of all the dolls sold said the phrase, it caused public outcry.

Taking a look at the current state of Barbie, it appears that Mattel may have started listening to its critics and is ready to respond. In 2006, Mattel released a film called "The Barbie Diaries," and took Barbie's image in a wholly new radical direction. In it, Barbie is no longer the "most popular girl in school," but instead a weird rock and roll chick who is kind of an outcast. Sure, she's still the blonde, tall, beautiful doll that we've grown up with, but instead of caring soley about make-up or cars or shopping (although there are some shopping obsessed scenes...) she cares most about her band and hanging out with her outsider friends. At first, she's smitten by a Ken-esque star quaterback, but the moral of the story places her true love with the geeky sweater wearing dude who's always been by her side. Does this signal a turn in marketing for Mattel? Only time will tell.

Responses

One of the most publicized responses happened around the turn of the century, as Barbie's waist widened to more natural proportions.

Barbies of different ethnic groups and nationalities have also been created, including African, Hispanic, Asian and Native American Barbies. Still, these Barbies are exact replicas of the original Barbie, with no individualism other than skin, hair, and eye color. Most commonly the Hispanic Teresa and African-American Christie appear as Barbie's "ethno-friend" alongside Skipper and occasionally red-head Midge, who has been around since the sixties.

Mattel also released an international collection, the Dolls Of The World, in 1980, with Barbies from different parts of the world. The dolls are dressed in more or less traditional clothes, each representing a nation. The European countries are highly over-represented but there are also Peruvian, Kenyan, Chinese, Filipino, Arctic, Japanese and Australian Barbies. In 2001 The Princess Collection" was issued for instance with dolls named Princess of India, Princess of the Navajo, Princess of the Vikings. As of 2005 there are also a "Kelly: Dolls of the World" where Barbie's "little sister" and two friends represent different European countries.

To counter accusations of gender stereotyping, career Barbies have been released. These include astronaut, gymnast, rapper and soldier models. She also ran for President after breaking up with Ken. [link]

Parodies and lawsuits

Many artists have referred to Barbie and her accompanying products, either as homage or as parody. The Danish pop-dance group Aqua released a song called "Barbie Girl" in 1997. It contained lyrics such as "You can brush my hair/Undress me everywhere" and used graphics similar to the pink Barbie logo. Mattel used this as grounds for a trademark infringement and defamation lawsuit filed on September 11, 1997. However, it was dismissed by the court as parody on May 15, 1998.

A commercial by automobile company Nissan featured dolls similar to Barbie and Ken driving in a toy car was the subject of another lawsuit on September 18, 1997 [link].

Saturday Night Live aired a parody of common Career Barbie commercial introducing the fictional "Gangsta Bitch Barbie" doll, and a "Tupac Ken" doll.

Malibu Stacy takes the place of Barbie in the fictional world of The Simpsons, specifically the episode 'Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy' - an obvious parody of the "teen talk" Barbie incident, with Lisa disgusted by the "sexist drivel spouted by Malibu Stacy", forcing her to market an alternative "Lisa Lionheart".

See also .

The Barbie doll is a $1.9 billion dollar a year industry. Mattel has claimed that approximately three Barbie dolls are sold every second. Clube Náutico Capibaribe[link], a sports club and soccer team from Recife, Brazil, is known as "Barbie's club".

Collecting

Mattel estimates that there are well over 100,000 avid Barbie collectors. Ninety-percent are women, at an average age of 40, purchasing more than 20 Barbie dolls each year. Forty-five-percent of them spend upwards of $1000 a year. While the original Barbie sold for $3.00 in 1959, a mint boxed Barbie from 1959 sold for $3552.50 on eBay in October 2004. [link]

Related merchandise

Books about Barbie first emerged in the 1960s. In the mid-1990s, a new line of novels about Barbie appeared. This new series showcased Barbie's adventurous exploits. In the late 1980s, Barbie had two videos, Barbie and the Rockers and Barbie and the Sensations. By the late-1990s, Mattel had moved to featuring her in interactive 3D video games for both gaming consoles and personal computers. In recent years, she has taken the computer animated movie industry by storm, guest appearing in Toy Story 2, and later her own direct-to-video movies, Barbie in the Nutcracker, Barbie as Rapunzel, Barbie of Swan Lake, Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper, , Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus and the latest (a sequel to the previous Fairytopia video), all of which were accompanied by small product lines, including dolls. Though not feature length, they are fairly abundant in plot.

Terminology

Collector Edition - Dolls designed specifically for collectors aged 14 and over. Collector Edition dolls usually come in showcase packaging, with a stand and a certificate of authenticity.

Customized - Dolls designed exclusively for specific retail stores are referred to as "customized".

Limited Edition - Collector Edition dolls produced in limited quantities worldwide, which are often available only from specific retailers. These dolls generally feature higher-quality materials and construction than non-limited dolls.

OSS - Stands for "original swimsuit". Denotes a doll that is still dressed in the swimsuit it originally came in.

Ponytail - Barbie's first hairstyle consisted of a top-knot ponytail with tightly-curled bangs. Dolls with this hairstyle are referred to by collectors as the "ponytail" dolls. Early Barbie dolls are organized into five major groups based on various physical characterstics that can be used to determine when a particular doll was manufactured. The major categories are denoted by numbers:

#1 - 1959; The first Barbie doll. White irises, blue eyeliner, sharply arched eyebrows. Has holes in feet lined with copper tubing. Body material whitens with age. Wears black and white swimsuit. Marked "Barbie TM..." on buttock.
#2 - 1959; same as #1, but without the copper-lined tubes in the feet.
#3 - 1960; New blue irises and softer, curved eyebrows. Some dolls have brown eyeliner.
#4 - 1960; Made with a new vinyl that retains its tan coloring. Blue eyeliner only.
#5 - 1961; Bangs now made of a stiffer fiber. Lighter in weight due to a hollow torso, marked "Barbie (r)..." on buttock.
#6 - 1961; Same as #5. Came wearing a new red swimsuit.
#7 - 1963; Body now marked "Midge TM (c) 1962 Barbie (r)(c) 1958 by Mattel, Inc."
#8 - 1964; Same as #7, but "Patented" added to the end of markings.
Timeless Treasures™ - A Collector Edition line featuring celebrity and character dolls.

TNT - "Twist 'N Turn" Waist. A waist with a rotational joint, originally introduced in 1967, copyrighted in 1966. Many variations of this original design have been used.

Vintage - Dolls produced through 1972 are generally considered to be "vintage."

Modern - Dolls produced after 1972.

NRFB - Stands for "Never Removed From Box." Indicates that a doll is undisturbed in its original, un-opened packaging.

MIB - Stands for "Mint in Box." Indicates that a doll is in perfect, like-new condition, and is still housed in its original box, but the box has been opened and the doll may have been removed at some point.

A/O - "All original." Indicates that a doll is exactly as it was when it was originally left the factory, with no restoration work having been done to it.

M/C - "Mint and complete." An outfit in perfect, just-out-of-the box condition with all pieces and accessories included.

OOAK - "One of a kind." A doll that has been customized by an artist, usually by repainting and/or rerooting the hair.

Timeline

Barbie logo, 1992 to 1999
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Barbie logo, 1992 to 1999

Mattel loses a legal battle against American artist Tom Forsythe. Forsythe had made images of Barbie showing her nude and in sexual and other situations. The court decided that the images qualified as satire, and were thus legal. [link]
  • 2004: Barbie and Ken separate. After 43 years as one of the world's most famous couples, the pair's "business manager," Russell Arons, vice president of marketing at Mattel, said that Barbie and Ken "feel it's time to spend some quality time - apart."
  • 2005: Mattel expands the Barbie domain with the introduction of a high-end "Barbie Luxe" designer line of clothing and accessories for adult women. Included: jeans, shirts, handbags and jewelry designed by well-known fashion designers. US sales of Barbie "crashed by 30%, and world sales by 18%" [link].

    • See also

    Further reading

    External links

     

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