- Mattel’s Barbie has been around for more than 60 years. She’s had more than 250 careers and made billions of dollars.
- But it wasn’t an easy road. In the 1950s, Ruth Handler, the woman behind Barbie, found it difficult to find support for her idea.
- Critics believed the doll with the impossible figure symbolized objectification and consumerism.
Ruth Handler’s idea was to show girls they could be anything they wanted to be.
In the 1950s, the American businesswoman saw a gap in the toy market. She decided to launch a doll for girls that wasn’t a baby, but a woman — with a woman’s body, a job, and later, a boyfriend.
After being warned it was a bad idea and that no one would buy it, Barbie was a huge hit. Mattel, Handler’s toy company, went on to make billions of dollars off the doll.
In the 1970s, Barbie became a symbol that feminists hated for creating unrealistic ideas about bodies, upholding gender stereotypes, and whitewashing ideas about beauty.
But she kept selling and remains the most popular doll in the world. In July, the highly-anticipated “Barbie” movie, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie as the titular character, will be released.
Here’s how Barbie took over the world.
