The History and Impact of Barbies

 The creator of Barbie’s birthday is tomorrow!!!  SOOOOO I decided that this would be a cool opportunity to write about the history and impact of barbies!

An Unexpected Origin

On June 24th, 1952, Bild Lilli was introduced as a sultry secretary in a series of comedic comic strips by the German Tabloid Newspaper, Bild.  Bild is now a widely read incredibly conservative news source which gives Barbie’s feminism a delicious touch of irony.  Lilli, and her subsequent doll form, and then the creation of the Barbie franchise may have never happened if it weren’t for the empty space on the 2nd page of the first edition of Bild that needed to be filled at the last minute.  That was when illustrator Reinhard Beuthein, threw together a small comic about a girl at a fortune teller, asking for the name and details of her future husband, who she hoped would be rich and handsome.  And thus, Lilli was born.  While she remained controversial until her demise in 1959, she served as a voice for the German women who were seeking social independence, through her woody comebacks at the men in her comic.  She became an international success, even getting her own film and dolls.  Although they were mostly targeted towards adult men to buy as a gag gift, they were also popular amongst little girls.

The Birth of Barbie

Barbie was invented by Ruth Handler, the cofounder of Mattel, after she noticed something about her children’s toys.  While her son had toys that allowed him to imagine himself as an astronaut or a firefighter, her daughter had toys that limited her to imagine herself as a caregiver or mother.  This wasn’t just a “Ruth should buy better toys” issue.  This was 1959, a time where girls were expected to get married, have kids, and be a housewife.

Ruth was disappointed in these gender expectations so when she and her daughter

discovered a Bild Lilli doll in a toy shop, she decided to give her daughter a toy that wouldn’t confine her daughter to that patriarchal future.  This led to the company she co-founded, Mattel, to release a near carbon copy of a Bild Lilli doll on March 9th, 1959.  This was the world’s first Barbie, named after her daughter, Barbara Millicent Robert.

Once the Barbie dolls began flying off the shelves, the company manufacturer of Lilli, Greiner and Hausser’s fought for the copyright and patent rights on Lilli, but in 1964, Mattel bought the rights, taking Bild Lilli out of production.  From then on, Mattel began pumping out new dream houses, designs, and careers for Barbie.  

Barbie’s Careers and Impacts

Through the years, they released dozens of dolls fitting the themes of the biggest movements in history, to show their support through their products.  This can be shown through Christie, one of the first black dolls ever created, for the Civil Rights movements, and Malibu Barbie, for the Women’s Liberation Movement.  However, Mattel has not only created dolls that are direct representations of revolutionary moments in history, but they have also brought awareness to the underrepresentation of women using Barbie’s careers.

Barbie has had over 250 careers, ranging from Circus performer to a nurse, but her first

ever career was as an astronaut, released in 1965.  This doll led to young girls feeling inspired to reach for the stars and begin exploring their own passions, leading to a new generation of girls entering the corporate world.  This was until Mattel began releasing more career dolls, such as UNICEF Ambassador Barbie, Paleontologist Barbie, and Surgeon Barbie.  These career barbies were used to recognize the fields of work in which women were underrepresented to show young girls that they can be anything and to encourage discovery.  Other than bringing attention to women's problems in society, they also brought awareness to other minorities  such as those with Down syndrome, hearing loss, alopecia and more with their Diverse Barbie collection.  They were created to help young children be aware that there were other people who were different from them and teach them acceptance and help young children who could relate to the dolls, find comfort that there were others like them.  This collection is relatively new, causing controversy online about whether or not Mattel was too late in releasing this collection.

Controversies…

On a similar note, as much as I hate to talk dirt about a doll that was my whole childhood, Mattel has been caught for some troubling messaging in their products.

The 1963 doll Barbie babysitter contains a health magazine with a very simple and harmful message: “DON’T EAT!”

Similarly, the 1965 Slumber Party Barbie contains a scale permanently stuck on 110lb (49kg).

These two dolls caused an uproar as, surprise surprise, people don’t love it when a progressive company gives them advice to give them an eating disorder.

While there were some morally troubling Barbies released in the past, their impact on modern day feminism is undeniable.  With the dolls representing political movements and fields in which women are underrepresented, it has assisted in our world evolving.  Barbies have helped our world broaden the potential for women and minorities, and become more accepting of those who don’t fit the norm and find beauty in originality.

P.S. If you're interested in Mattel's controversial Barbie dolls, I highly recommend researching banned Barbie dolls. They are so wacky and insane, it's hard to believe they made it past production.