| Barbie
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Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration.
Barbie is the figurehead of a brand
of Mattel dolls and accessories, including other family members and
collectible dolls. Barbie has been an important part of the toy fashion
doll market for fifty years, and has been the subject of numerous
controversies and lawsuits, often involving parody of the doll and her lifestyle. History
The original Barbie was launched in March 1959
Ruth Handler
watched her daughter Barbara at play with paper dolls, and noticed that
she often enjoyed giving them adult roles. At the time, most children's
toy dolls were representations of infants. Realizing that there could
be a gap in the market, Handler suggested the idea of an adult-bodied
doll to her husband Elliot, a co-founder of the Mattel toy company. He was unenthusiastic about the idea, as were Mattel's directors.
During a trip to Europe in 1956 with her children Barbara and Kenneth, Ruth Handler came across a German toy doll called Bild Lilli.[1]
The adult-figured 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 working girl who knew what she wanted and was not above
using men to get it. The Lilli doll was first sold in Germany in 1955,
and although it was initially sold to adults, it became popular with
children who enjoyed dressing her up in outfits that were available
separately.
Upon her return to the United States, Handler reworked the design of the doll (with help from engineer Jack Ryan) and the doll was given a new name, Barbie, after Handler's daughter Barbara. The doll made its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York on March 9, 1959. This date is also used as Barbie's official birthday.
Mattel acquired the rights to the Bild Lilli doll
in 1964 and production of Lilli was stopped. The first Barbie doll wore
a black and white zebra striped swimsuit and signature topknot ponytail, and was available as either a blonde or brunette.
The doll was marketed as a "Teen-age Fashion Model," with her clothes
created by Mattel fashion designer Charlotte Johnson. The first Barbie
dolls were manufactured in Japan, with their clothes hand-stitched by Japanese homeworkers. Around 350,000 Barbie dolls were sold during the first year of production.
Ruth Handler believed that it was important for Barbie to have an adult appearance, and early market research
showed that some parents were unhappy about the doll's chest, which had
distinct breasts. Barbie's appearance has been changed many times, most
notably in 1971 when the doll's eyes were adjusted to look forwards
rather than having the demure sideways glance of the original model.
Barbie was one of the first toys to have a marketing strategy based extensively on television advertising,
which has been copied widely by other toys. It is estimated that over a
billion Barbie dolls have been sold worldwide in over 150 countries,
with Mattel claiming that three Barbie dolls are sold every second.[2]
The standard range of Barbie dolls and related accessories are manufactured to approximately 1/6th scale, which is also known as playscale.[3]
Barbie products include not only the range of dolls with their clothes
and accessories, but also a large range of Barbie branded goods such as
books, apparel, cosmetics and video games. Barbie has appeared in a series of animated films and is a supporting character in Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3.
Barbie has become a cultural icon and has been given honors that are rare in the toy world. In 1974 a section of Times Square in New York City was renamed Barbie Boulevard for a week. In 1985 the artist Andy Warhol created a painting of Barbie.[4][5]
In 2009, Barbie celebrated her 50th birthday. The celebrations included a runway show in New York for the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.[6] The event showcased fashions contributed by fifty well-known haute couturiers including Diane von Fürstenberg, Vera Wang, Calvin Klein, Bob Mackie, and Christian Louboutin.[7][8]
Biography
Barbie's full name is Barbra Millicent Roberts. In a series of novels published by Random House in the 1960s, her parents' names are given as George and Margaret Roberts from the fictional town of Willows, Wisconsin.[9] In the Random House novels, Barbie attended Willows High School, while in the Generation Girl books published by Golden Books in 1999 she attended the fictional Manhattan International High School in New York City (based on the real-life Stuyvesant High School[10]).
She has an on-off romantic relationship with her boyfriend Ken (Ken Carson), who first appeared in 1961. A news release
from Mattel in February 2004 announced that Barbie and Ken had decided
to split up, but in February 2006 they were hoping to rekindle their
relationship after Ken had a makeover.[11]
Barbie has had over 40 pets including cats and dogs, horses, a panda, a lion cub, and a zebra. She has owned a wide range of vehicles, including pink Corvette convertibles, trailers and jeeps. She also holds a pilot's license, and operates commercial airliners in addition to serving as a flight attendant. Barbie's careers
are designed to show that women can take on a variety of roles in life,
and the doll has been sold with a wide range of titles including Miss Astronaut Barbie (1965), Doctor Barbie (1988) and Nascar Barbie (1998).
Mattel has created a range of companions for Barbie, including Hispanic Teresa, Midge, African American Christie and Steven (Christie's boyfriend). Barbie's siblings and cousins were also created including Skipper, Todd (Stacie's twin brother), Stacie (Todd's twin sister), Kelly, Krissy, and Francie. Barbie was friendly with Blaine, an Australian surfer, during her split with Ken in 2004.[12]
- See List of Barbie's friends and family
Controversies
Barbie's popularity ensures that her effect on the play of children
attracts a high degree of scrutiny. The criticisms leveled at her are
often based on the assumption that children consider Barbie a role model
and will attempt to emulate her.
Barbie's waist has been widened in more recent versions of the doll
- One of the most common criticisms of Barbie is that she promotes an
unrealistic idea of body image for a young woman, leading to a risk that
girls who attempt to emulate her will become anorexic. A standard Barbie doll is 11.5 inches tall, giving a height of 5 feet 9 inches at 1/6 scale.
Barbie's vital statistics have been estimated at 36 inches (chest),
18 inches (waist) and 33 inches (hips). According to research by the
University Central Hospital in Helsinki, Finland, she would lack the 17 to 22 percent body fat required for a woman to menstruate.[13] In 1963 the outfit "Barbie Baby-Sits" came with a book entitled How to Lose Weight which advised: "Don't eat."[14] The same book was included in another ensemble called "Slumber Party" in 1965 along with a pink bathroom scale reading 110 lbs.[15], which would be around 35 lbs. underweight for a woman 5 feet 9 inches tall.[16]
In 1997 Barbie's body mold was redesigned and given a wider waist, with
Mattel saying that this would make the doll better suited to
contemporary fashion designs.[17][18]
- "Colored Francie" made her debut in 1967, and she is sometimes described as the first African American Barbie doll. However, she was produced using the existing head molds for the white Francie doll and lacked African characteristics other than a dark skin. The first African American doll in the Barbie range is usually regarded as Christie, who made her debut in 1968.[19][20] Black Barbie was launched in 1980 but still had white features. In September 2009, Mattel introduced the So In Style range, which was intended to create a more realistic depiction of black people than previous dolls.[21]
- In July 1992 Mattel released Teen Talk Barbie, which spoke a
number of phrases including "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 that no two dolls were likely
to be the same. One of these 270 phrases was "Math
class is tough!" (often misquoted as "Math is hard"). Although only
about 1.5% of all the dolls sold said the phrase, it led to criticism
from the American Association of University Women. In October 1992 Mattel announced that Teen Talk Barbie would no longer say the phrase, and offered a swap to anyone who owned a doll that did.[22]
Oreo Fun Barbie from 1997 became controversial due to a negative interpretation of the doll's name
- In 1997 Mattel joined forces with Nabisco to launch a cross-promotion of Barbie with Oreo cookies. Oreo Fun Barbie
was marketed as someone with whom little girls could play after class
and share "America's favorite cookie." As had become the custom, Mattel
manufactured both a white and a black version. Critics argued that in the African American community Oreo
is a derogatory term meaning that the person is "black on the outside
and white on the inside," like the chocolate sandwich cookie itself. The
doll was unsuccessful and Mattel recalled the unsold stock, making it
sought after by collectors.[23]
- In May 1997 Mattel introduced Share a Smile Becky, a doll in a pink wheelchair. Kjersti Johnson, a 17-year-old high school student in Tacoma, Washington with cerebral palsy, pointed out that the doll would not fit into the elevator of Barbie's $100 Dream House. Mattel announced that it would redesign the house in the future to accommodate the doll.[24][25]
- In March 2000 stories appeared in the media claiming that the hard vinyl
used in vintage Barbie dolls could leak toxic chemicals, causing danger
to children playing with them. The claim was rejected as false by
technical experts. A modern Barbie doll has a body made from ABS plastic, while the head is made from soft PVC.[26][27]
- In September 2003 the Middle Eastern country of Saudi Arabia outlawed the sale of Barbie dolls, saying that she did not conform to the ideals of Islam. The Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice stated "Jewish Barbie dolls, with their revealing clothes and shameful postures, accessories and tools are a symbol of decadence to the perverted West. Let us beware of her dangers and be careful."[28] In Middle Eastern countries there is an alternative doll called Fulla
which is similar to Barbie but is designed to be more acceptable to an
Islamic market. Fulla is not made by the Mattel Corporation, and Barbie
is still available in other Middle Eastern countries including Egypt.[29] In Iran, Sara and Dara dolls are available as an alternative to Barbie.[30]
- In December 2005 Dr. Agnes Nairn at the University of Bath in England
published research suggesting that girls often go through a stage where
they hate their Barbie dolls and subject them to a range of
punishments, including decapitation and placing the doll in a microwave oven. Dr. Nairn said: "It's as though disavowing Barbie is a rite of passage and a rejection of their past."[31][32]
- In April 2009, the launch of a Totally Tattoos Barbie with a range of tattoos that could be applied to the doll, including a lower back tattoo,
led to controversy. Mattel's promotional material read "Customize the
fashions and apply the fun temporary tattoos on you too", but Ed Mayo,
chief executive of Consumer Focus, argued that children might want to
get tattooed themselves.[33]
Parodies and lawsuits
Barbie has frequently been the target of parody:
- In 1993 a group calling itself the "Barbie Liberation Organization"
secretly modified a group of Barbie dolls by implanting voice boxes from
G.I. Joe dolls, then returning the Barbies to the toy stores from where they were purchased.[34][35]
- Malibu Stacy from The Simpsons episode "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy".
- Aqua's song "Barbie Girl" was the subject of a lawsuit by Mattel.[36][37]
- Two commercials by automobile company Nissan
featuring dolls similar to Barbie and Ken was the subject of another
lawsuit in 1997. In the first commercial, a female doll is lured into a
car by a doll resembling GI Joe to the dismay of a Ken-like doll, accompanied by Van Halen's You Really Got Me.[38]
In the second commercial, the "Barbie" doll is saved by the "G.I. Joe"
doll after she is accidentally knocked into a swimming pool by the "Ken"
doll to Kiss's "Dr. Love".[39]
The makers of the commercial said that the dolls' names were Roxanne,
Nick, and Tad. Mattel claimed that the commercial did "irreparable
damage" to its products,[40][41]but settled.[42]
- Saturday Night Live aired a parody of the Barbie commercials featuring "Gangsta Bitch Barbie" and "Tupac Ken".[43] In 2002, the show also aired a skit, which starred Britney Spears as Barbie's sister Skipper.[44]
- The Tonight Show with Jay Leno displayed a "Barbie Crystal Meth Lab".[citation needed]
- Mattel sued artist Tom Forsythe over a series of photographs called Food Chain Barbie in which Barbie winds up in a blender.[45][46][47]
- In November 2002 a New York judge refused an injunction against the British-based artist Susanne Pitt, who had produced a "Dungeon Barbie" doll in bondage clothing.[48]
- Mattel filed a lawsuit in 2004 against Barbara Anderson-Walley over her website
www.barbiesshop.com, which sells fetish clothing.[49][50]
Collecting
Vintage #5 Ponytail Barbie from 1962 in original box
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 twenty Barbie dolls each year. Forty-five percent
of them spend upwards of $1000 a year. Vintage Barbie dolls from the
early years are the most valuable at auction, and while the original Barbie was sold for $3.00 in 1959, a mint boxed Barbie from 1959 sold for $3552.50 on eBay in October 2004.[51] On September 26, 2006, a Barbie doll set a world record at auction of £9,000 sterling (US $17,000) at Christie's in London. The doll was a Barbie in Midnight Red from 1965 and was part of a private collection of 4,000 Barbie dolls being sold by two Dutch women, Ietje Raebel and her daughter Marina.[52]
In recent years Mattel has sold a wide range of Barbie dolls aimed specifically at collectors, including porcelain versions, vintage reproductions, and depictions of Barbie as a range of characters from film and television series such as The Munsters and Star Trek.[53][54] There are also collector's edition dolls depicting Barbie dolls with a range of different ethnic identities.[55]
In 2004 Mattel introduced the Color Tier system for its collector's
edition Barbie dolls, ranging through pink, silver, gold and platinum
depending on how many of the dolls are produced.[56]
Competition from Bratz dolls
In June 2001, MGA Entertainment launched the Bratz
range of dolls, a move that would give Barbie her first serious
competition in the fashion doll market. In 2004 sales figures showed
that Bratz dolls were outselling Barbie dolls in the United Kingdom,
although Mattel maintained that in terms of the number of dolls, clothes and accessories sold, Barbie remained the leading brand.[57]
In 2005 figures showed that sales of Barbie dolls had fallen by 30% in
the United States, and by 18% worldwide, with much of the drop being
attributed to the popularity of Bratz dolls.[58]
In December 2006, Mattel sued MGA Entertainment for $500 million,
alleging that Bratz creator Carter Bryant was working for Mattel when he
developed the idea for Bratz.[59]
On July 17, 2008, a federal jury agreed that the Bratz line was created
by Carter Bryant while he was working for Mattel. The jury also ruled
that MGA and its Chief Executive Officer Isaac Larian
were liable for converting Mattel property for their own use and
intentionally interfering with the contractual duties owed by Bryant to
Mattel.[60]
On August 26, the jury found that Mattel would have to be paid $100
million in damages. On December 3, 2008, U.S. District Judge Stephen
Larson banned MGA from selling Bratz. He allowed the company to continue
selling the dolls until the winter holiday season ended.[61][62] MGA is currently appealing against the court's ruling.[63] In August 2009, MGA introduced a range of dolls called Moxie Girlz, intended as a replacement for Bratz dolls.[64]
See also
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