History of Barbie Dolls

The history of Barbie dolls is best told starting from how the idea of making it was created.

The idea of Barbie Dolls was created when Ruth Handler watched her daughter, Barbara, giving her dolls adult roles. Back then, most toys, especially dolls, were made to represent infants or babies. She then came up with the idea to create adult-bodied dolls and suggested them to Elliot, her husband and co-founder of the successful toy company named Mattel.

When the couple visited Europe in 1956, they came across a German toy doll named Bild Lilli. This doll was the embodiment of Ruth Handler’s idea of an adult-bodied doll. She came from a popular comic strip by Reihard Beuthin which appeared in the Die Bild-Zeitung newspaper. She purchased three, gave one to her daughter and the other two to Mattel.

Upon going back to the US, she worked on the redesigning of the Bild Lilli doll with the help of Engineer Jack Ryan. She named her design Barbie after her daughter Barbara. The debut of the doll was held at the American International Toy Fair in New York. The date of this debut, March 9, 1959, is also the official birthday of Barbie.

Mattel eventually acquired the rights to the Bild Lilli dolls in 1964 and stopped their production. The first Barbie doll was dressed in a black and white striped swimsuit and had on the signature topknot ponytail. The Barbie Doll was also either a blonde or a brunette. She was marketed as having the job of a teenage fashion model and her clothes were made by Charlotte Johnson, the Mattel fashion designer. The doll today, however, has been made in different versions featuring 125 careers or jobs. The first Barbie Dolls were made in Japan with hand-stitched clothes by Japanese home workers. It is said that Mattel was able to sell 350,000 during the first year of the production of Barbie Dolls.

This change in the image of dolls did not get positive reactions from parents; a lot complained about the doll’s distinct chest. In line with this, Barbie’s appearance and structure has been changed multiple times. The most notable change was done in 1971 when the eyes were set to look forward instead of glancing sideways.

Barbie Dolls are not only manufactured as dolls, they are also used to design branded goods and merchandise. There are also animated films which feature the character of Barbie, one of which is Toy Story.

Barbie Dolls were one of the first toys which based their marketing strategy on television advertising.