Barbie Dolls

Barbie (full name Barbara Millicent Roberts) is a doll manufactured by the toy company Mattel and was launched on March 9, 1959, at the American International Toy Fair in New York. The original Barbie was derived from a German doll named Bild Lilli (who was developed from a German cartoon), for which Mattel bought the rights and patents in 1964. Her creator, Ruth Handler, is the cofounder of Mattel and named the doll after her daughter. Handler's son, Ken, was to provide the name for Barbie's perennial boyfriend, who was launched in 1961. The first Barbie doll sold for around $3.00, and since her inception, the blonde glamour girl has held a number of careers—including astronaut (1965), doctor (1988), presidential candidate (1992, 2000, 2004, and 2008), and NASCAR racing driver (1998). A military series of Barbie dolls (army, navy, air force, and marine corps) successfully underwent an approval process with the Pentagon in the 1980s, and a Summit Barbie was also produced to [Page 85]commemorate the end of the cold war. She has owned over forty-three pets, as well as over one billion outfits and pairs of shoes specifically designed for her. In terms of sales, over a billion Barbies have been sold in the United States since 1959, and the typical American girl owns eight of the dolls. The Barbie phenomenon has become a “lifestyle brand”—with interests in publishing, TV, film, and clothing and accessories—and has yearly retail sales of $3.3 billion. As an icon of consumer culture, the doll is marketed as a teenager who has an implausibly large disposable income, providing an aspirational example for young female children that parents and society often find worrisome. The fact that she initially emerged during a time of evolving consumer credit among the middle classes means she also epitomizes the consumerist values of postwar society, and this association between Barbie and commodity culture continues to this day. In her luxury dreamworld, selfhood or daily ills can be easily dispelled by an investment in beauty products, shopping, fitness, dieting, or a radical change of image.

Part of the controversy surrounding Barbie is the heavy feminist critique leveled at the doll: her pink Corvette, idyllic lifestyle, self-centered vanity, and extensive wardrobe changes portray a negative stereotype of feminine behavior. The Teen Talk Barbie, on the market in 1992, voiced numerous expressions, including “Will we ever have enough clothes?” “I love shopping!” and “Math class is tough,” the latter phrase prompting protest from the American Association of University Women. Eventually, Mattel offered an exchange for anyone who had purchased the doll. More prominently, Barbie is criticized for portraying an unhealthy and unattainable vision of the female body—her statistics (bust 36 inches, waist 18 inches, and hips 33 inches) are viewed as being unrealistic at best and, at worst, having implications for public health, such as conditioning young girls to desire an unnaturally slender form. In 1965, a Slumber Party Barbie was sold with pink weighing scales and a small book titled How to Lose Weight, which counseled “Don't eat.” In 1997, Barbie's body mold was redesigned with a smaller bust and a wider waist in an attempt to answer some of the concerns voiced by the feminist community.

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