With more than 150 careers on her resume she has worked as a Nurse, lifeguard, dance teacher and even astronaut. Her popularity has spread throughout the world for decades. She is beautiful, talented and every little girl has yearned to have her. Who is this woman you may ask? Her name is Barbie. I will be speaking about the History, popularity, and controversies of the Barbie doll.
The Barbie doll was invented by a woman named Ruth Handler in 1959. Ruth had a daughter named Barbra and noticed that she would make paper dolls and enjoyed giving them adult roles. During that time there were not many dolls that were adult like. Most represented infants known as the baby doll. Ruth shared her idea with her husband who was the co founder of the Mattel Toy Company. Initially he was unenthusiastic about the idea. Saying that the idea was to expensive and wouldn’t be marketable. Ruth’s idea was inspired by the Lilli doll which was based on a popular comic strip. The Lilli doll was a blonde bombshell, working girl who Ruth felt represented women in a positive view. Despite Ruth’s initial support from her husband she worked on her design of the doll with her engineer friend Jack Ryan. The doll was given the name Barbie named after Ruth’s daughter Barbara. The doll debuted at the American International Toy fair March 9, 1959. This date is also used as Barbie’s birthday. When the Barbie Doll was launched she was introduced as a teenage fashion model. She was available in blonde or brunette wearing a black and white bathing suit, pony tail, sandals and e6\ar rings. Over the years the Barbie design has changed in many ways. For example, in 1971 the dolls eyes were adjusted to look forward instead of a sideways glance. In 1961 a red haired Barbie was added to the collection. 19 years later in 1980 the first African American and Hispanic Barbie doll was launched. Ever since 1959 the Barbie doll phenomenon has not slowed down and still sells