All Dolled up
Launched in March 1959, the famous Barbie is a kids' fashion doll manufactured by Mattel, an American toy company. The idea of an adult bodied doll came to Ruth Handler, the master mind creator of Barbie, while watching her daughter, Barbara, pretend play with paper dolls starring them in a more mature role.
Noticing a significant gap in the market, Ruth approached her husband, a co-founder of Mattel and introduced the idea of manufacturing an adult doll for kids. Ruth's husband was sceptical about the idea at first as was the Mattel board of directors.
During a vacation in Europe, Ruth came across the German doll called Bild Lilli, a character from a comic strip found in the Die Bild-Zeitung newspaper. Lilli the doll was a blond bombshell targeted at the adult demographic, but soon became quite popular with kids, who enjoyed dressing the doll up in the variety of clothes sold separately. Ruth bought three of the dolls, giving one to her daughter and the other two held back for Mattel.
Working closely with a design engineer, Ruth re-worked the design of the doll Bild Lilli, and the new doll was given the name Barbie, fondly named after her daughter Barbara. Barbie made her first appearance at the American Toy Fair in New York on March 9, 1959. This also marks the date of Barbies official birthday.
Mattel acquired the rights to Bild Lilli and stopped the production of the doll, and soon after, Barbie was marketed to the public as a teenage fashion doll. Many parents were unhappy about the chest Barbie sported, and over the years Barbies appearance has changed quite a few times with a noticeable difference seen in 1971. Barbie was marketed extensively via television adverts and it is estimated that over a billion Barbies have been sold worldwide.
- The first Barbie doll sold for $3.00 in 1959
- A Barbie doll is sold every 3 seconds somewhere in the world
- Barbies real name is Barbara Millicent Roberts
- The first Barbie doll was available in either a brunette or blond option and was manufactured in Japan
- Barbie was originally a seventeen year old fashion teenage model
10 Interesting Facts about Barbie
- The Ken doll introduced in 1961 is two years and two days younger than Barbie
- Ken has never officially married Barbie. I wonder if one day he will finally put a ring on her finger
- In 2004 Barbie broke up with Ken and had a rebound relationship with an Australian surfer doll named Blaine
- Barbie has never been pregnant, her friend doll Midge has been pregnant
- Over the years Barbie had siblings called Skipper, Stacie, Chelsea, Krissy, Kelly Tutti and Todd
Barbie remains the world's most popular doll and a powerhouse brand to be reckoned with. With a large social media presence on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, Barbie is everywhere girls are today.