The toy industry is one of the most successful members of the market. No matter how many years pass by, there will always be children who want to have toys for their birthdays, Christmas, and other special occasions. Parents consider toys as a form of educational medium for enhancing their child’s abilities while letting them have fun and take pleasure in playing.
There are so many toys out in the market today, and most of them are designed for specific ages and genders. Some toys are simple and easy to play with, while some are more interactive and need the assistance of adults. But while all of these toys are continuously being sold and phased out, one specific model will never be out of style.
The Barbie doll, or simply Barbie, is a fashion doll which was launched in March 1959. Its creator, Ruth Handler, acknowledges the German doll Bild Lilli as her inspiration for making Barbie. The doll was manufactured by the American toy company, Mattel Inc. Barbie personal checks are frequently searched for as well.
At that time, dolls were mostly in the figure of infants. While Ruth Handler was watching her daughter Barbara play, she noticed that her daughter liked giving adult roles to her paper dolls. Ruth had the idea of creating an adult-bodied doll, and gave the idea to her husband Elliot Handler, who was the co-founder of Mattel Inc. He did not give too much regard to the idea, as did the other Mattel directors.
In 1956, Ruth went to a trip to Europe with her children Barbara and Kenneth. This is where she saw the German doll Bild Lilli, which was exactly what she thought an adult doll would be. She bought three dolls, gave one to her daughter, and brought two back to Mattel.
With the help of Engineer Jack Ryan, Ruth recreated the design for the doll and named it Barbie after her daughter. The doll was officially launched in the American International Toy Fair in New York on March 9, 1959, which was also considered as Barbie’s birthday.
There have been many problems about Barbie’s appearance, particularly about her breasts, which parents considered inappropriate for young children’s toys. There have been several changes in Barbie’s appearance, one particularly notable in 1971 when her eyes were first changed to look forward from the original sideways glance.
Barbie’s character has become a doll prodigy that has been used not only in the production of dolls, but in other commodities as well. Barbie has been incorporated in children’s stuff like bags, clothes, shoes, school supplies, as well as in books, and even in animated movies like Toy Story 2 and 3.
Some of the criticisms in the creation of Barbie were mostly of her beautiful physique which led to her lesser attributes. Having the body build that she originally had made Barbie into an underweight woman with a waist so small, a real woman her size would be unable to menstruate. She was also depicted as quite dumb, which made an impression that beautiful girls were not bright. Other issues with Barbie were mostly of lawsuits against illegal use of Barbie in other merchandise like songs, TV shows, and commodities.
Today, Barbie is still every little girl’s favorite doll. She has become a young girl’s companion in discovering the beauty of being a woman. And women today are choosing to order checks with Barbie on them. Barbie dolls have included many other goods into their merchandise, like Barbie clothes, Barbie doll houses, Barbie cars, even a Barbie boyfriend named Ken. It is safe to say that Barbie has become a superstar, a fashion model who many girls admire and many boys dream their girlfriends to be. Although she is not real, Barbie can be a real friend to all.