Barbie
Barbie is a fashion doll created by American businesswoman Ruth Handler, manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel and introduced on March 9, 1959. The toy was based on the German Bild Lilli doll which Handler had purchased while in Europe. The figurehead of an eponymous brand that includes a range of fashion dolls and accessories, Barbie has been an important part of the toy fashion doll market for over six decades. Mattel has sold over a billion Barbie dolls, making it the company's largest and most profitable line.[1] The brand has expanded into a multimedia franchise since 1984, including video games, animated films, television/web series, and a live-action film.
This article is about the fashion doll and brand. For other uses, see Barbie (disambiguation).Type
Barbie and her male counterpart, Ken, have been described as the two most popular dolls in the world.[2] Mattel generates a large portion of Barbie revenue though related merchandise — accessories, clothes, friends, and relatives of Barbie. Writing for Journal of Popular Culture in 1977, Don Richard Cox noted that Barbie has a significant impact on social values by conveying characteristics of female independence, and with her multitude of accessories, an idealized upscale lifestyle that can be shared with affluent friends.[3]
Barbie
Role model Barbies
In March 2018, in time for International Women's Day, Mattel unveiled the "Barbie Celebrates Role Models" campaign with a line of 17 dolls, informally known as "sheroes", from diverse backgrounds "to showcase examples of extraordinary women".[81][82] Mattel developed this collection in response to mothers concerned about their daughters having positive female role models.[81] Dolls in this collection include Frida Kahlo, Patti Jenkins, Chloe Kim, Nicola Adams, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Bindi Irwin, Amelia Earhart, Misty Copeland, Helene Darroze, Katherine Johnson, Sara Gama, Martyna Wojciechowska, Gabby Douglas, Guan Xiaotong, Ava Duvernay, Yuan Yuan Tan, Iris Apfel, Ashley Graham and Leyla Piedayesh.[81] In 2020, the company announced a new release of "shero" dolls, including Paralympic champion Madison de Rozario,[83] and world four-time sabre champion Olga Kharlan.[84][85] In July 2021, Mattel released a Naomi Osaka Barbie doll as a part of the 'Barbie Role Model' series. Osaka originally partnered with Barbie two years earlier.[86] A month earlier, a Julie Bishop doll was released to acknowledge the former Australian politician,[87] as was one for general practitioner Kirby White for her work during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.[88] In August 2021 a Barbie modelled after European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti was released.[89]
Collecting
The standard range of Barbie dolls and related accessories are manufactured to approximately 1/6 scale, which is also known as playscale.[90] The standard dolls are approximately 11+1⁄2 inches (29 cm) tall.
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.[91] 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.[92]
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.[93][94] There are also collector's edition dolls depicting Barbie dolls with a range of different ethnic identities.[95] In 2004, Mattel introduced the Color Tier system for its collector's edition Barbie dolls including pink, silver, gold, and platinum, depending on how many of the dolls are produced.[96] In 2020, Mattel introduced the Dia De Los Muertos collectible Barbie doll, the second collectible released as part of the company's La Catrina line which was launched in 2019.[97]
Barbie has frequently been the target of parody:
Competition from Bratz dolls
In May 2001, MGA Entertainment launched the Bratz series of dolls, a move that gave 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.[120] 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.[121]
In December 2006, Mattel sued MGA Entertainment for $1 billion, alleging that Bratz creator Carter Bryant was working for Mattel when he developed the idea for Bratz.[122] On July 17, 2008, a federal jury agreed that the Bratz line was created by Carter Bryant while he was working for Mattel and 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.[123] 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.[124][125] On appeal, a stay was granted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; the Court also overturned the District Court's original ruling for Mattel, where MGA Entertainment was ordered to forfeit the entire Bratz brand.[126][127]
Mattel Inc. and MGA Entertainment Inc. returned to court on January 18, 2011, to renew their battle over who owns Bratz, which this time included accusations from both companies that the other side stole trade secrets.[128] On April 21, 2011, a federal jury returned a verdict supporting MGA.[129] On August 5, 2011, Mattel was also ordered to pay MGA $310 million for attorney fees, stealing trade secrets, and false claims rather than the $88.5 million issued in April.[130]
In August 2009, MGA introduced a range of dolls called Moxie Girlz, intended as a replacement for Bratz dolls.[131]
Barbie's waist has been widened in more recent versions of the doll.
Back cover of the vintage booklet titled How to Lose Weight, stating "Don't Eat!"
Bathroom scale from 1965, permanently set at 110 pounds (50 kg)
