The History of Barbie Doll and The Related Controversies

Barbie Millicent Roberts, most famously known today as Barbie, is a household name. Little girls have looked up to and respected her as a role model since she first debuted, begging their parents to buy each and every new one that hit store shelves. “I designed Barbie with a blank face so that the children could project her own dreams of the future onto Barbie” Handler said when discussing the creation of Barbie. When Ruth Handler set out to create her, she just wanted kids to enjoy it. She would have no idea of what kind of an impression Barbie would make on children and adults alike. This impression of Barbie was big and controversial.

The idea of Barbie all began with Ruth Handler’s daughter. Her daughter, Barbara, loved playing with adult paper dolls that had changeable clothing. At this point, Handler had noticed that playing pretend about the future was a big part of growing up in young children as when Barbara and her friends would play with the paper dolls, they would mimic the lives and conversations of an adult. She also noticed that although there were other paper dolls that were portrayed to be around Barbara and her friend’s ages, they were all still drawn to the adult paper dolls. When they took a family trip to Switzerland, she came across adult like dolls and noticed that each wore different ski outfits. She noted how the dolls and outfits could not be purchased separately and realized the importance of the fact that the doll she wanted to create, needed to have the option of buying outfits separate from the doll. Inspired by her trip, she went to mega toy corporation Mattel. Initially, Mattel didn’t think that it was possible to create the fashionable doll Handler had envisioned at an affordable price. They were also worried about the possible backlash that they would possibly face from parents who would find such a grown up doll offensive. Strong and determined, she was eventually able to convince Mattel to create a prototype and they marketed the new doll as Barbie Teenage Fashion Model.

“I wouldn’t walk around the house like that. I don’t like that influence on my little girl. If only they would let children remain young a little longer… It’s hard enough to raise a lady these days without undue moral pressure,” says a concerned mother when Barbie first debuted in 1959 at the International Toy Fair. Donning a ponytail hairstyle, open-toed high-heeled shoes, a black and white zebra-striped bathing suit along with sunglasses and earrings, parents were not impressed. At the beginning of the fair, one sales representative from Mattel said “We were so pumped up by Ruth’s enthusiasm, we became believers. The doll was radically different, but Ruth’s logic made sense to us. We thought kids who liked paper dolls would like this.” Ruth was confident that she would be able to change the minds of people who didn’t approve of Barbie but as more and more people at the fair began to see the doll, past concerns about how people would react were starting to come to fruition. The mature body on Barbie shocked most parents. They were used to their children playing with small baby dolls. They were used to seeing dolls such as Chatty Cathy and Betsy Wetsy which made up a large majority of the toys sold to little girls (Wolf 3). In the postwar era of the 1950’s, little girls were taught that all they should be focused on was marriage and motherhood which is exactly what these dolls were designed to teach them. Having a doll that was so far from this realm of ‘normality’ was exactly what Handler wanted. Although there had been previous fashion dolls with adult figures on the market such as Miss Revlon, they were marketed towards adults. Barbie on the other hand, was marketed towards America’s young and vulnerable children. Despite the outrage, Mattel and Handler knew that these children would love Barbie and continued to try to get the doll to sell. Mattel knew they had to stop trying to appeal the doll to mothers and start focusing on targeting children as their new customer. They began to market Barbie as having the quintessential suburban lifestyle at the time of having numerous luxury items which Barbie emulated by always having tons of new cars, accessories and clothing. Also, with the television being relatively new in the 1950’s, Mattel featured Barbie on many shows like the Mickey Mouse Club and in various commercials. In the first year of Barbie being on the market 351,000 dolls were sold at the price of 3 dollars a piece. With such success, Mattel realized how much influence children have in the household when making purchase decisions and continued to market Barbie directly towards them.

Barbie no longer has the original looks she donned at the International Toy Fair in 1959. In the culture of the 1950’s, Barbie reflected many things that people were told they should reflect. One stand out aspect was her body. With her long legs, long arms, small waist and shapely chest, she represented what little girls thought they should look like when they got older. Although there was controversy when she first debuted, the controversy today is at an all time high. The main issue is with body image. Viewed as a role model to many little girls, parents are concerned that the way her body looks could have a negative effect on their own children’s body image when in today’s society, everyone wants to have that “perfect” body that for so many is unattainable. Many people say that Barbie’s proportions as an actual human being are too unrealistic and demand a change in the way Barbie’s body looks. Standing life size, she would be an astounding 7 feet and 6 inches tall, have a 28 inch waist and hips of 40 inches. If these proportions were applied to a model at 5’6, her waist would be 20 inches, with 29 inch hips and a bust of 27 inches. The likelihood of a woman having the body of Barbie is 1 in 100,000. However when Barbie’s counterpart Ken’s proportions are used in comparison to men, the odds are much more likely at 1 in 50.

There is an intense pressure on young girls today that they should look a certain way and the body on Barbie, but not Barbie herself, can end up doing more harm than good. Slayen, a former student at Lincoln High School and having dealt with pone year bout of anorexia knows all too well. Slayen doesn’t blame Barbie for her illness, but does acknowledge that she was an environmental factor in what contributed to it. A Mattel representative responded to Slayen’s comments by saying “As a pop-cultural icon, Barbie is often used as art to express one’s own personal opinions and views. Girls see female body images everywhere today and it’s critical that parents and caregivers provide perspective on what they are seeing. It’s important to remember that Barbie is a doll who stands 11.5 inches tall and weighs 7.25 ounces- she was never modeled on the proportions of a real person.” Although Barbie has been held responsible for fostering many eating disorders, there are still advocates who say a doll should not and is not responsible for any eating disorder; agreeing with the Mattel representative. Following previous controversy on this same topic Mattel decided to introduce a new Barbie whose bust was smaller and waist wider to reflect a more real female body type. Barbie’s controversy hasn’t stopped there. In 1967 “Colored Francie” was introduced. Criticism of her was widespread as she was produced using existing head molds and therefore (other than her darker skin tone) lacked any distinguishing African American characteristics. Once again, Mattel responded, albeit years later, and in 1980 released African American and Hispanic dolls that did have distinguishing characteristics.

Barbie has had a controversial start from the very first moment she was created. From the initial reactions to her at the International Toy Fair to the eating disorders that she is blamed for, one could argue that her overall impact has been negative. That however, would require the millions of children who adore Barbie and the adults who find her fascinating to be ignored. For adult Barbie lovers, many are a part of a whole subculture that involves collecting, buying, selling and displaying of rare and collectable Barbie dolls. “Mint in Box” are even more valuable to them with one vintage doll bought in 1959 selling for 3,552.50 dollars in 2004 even though it originally only cost 3 dollars. Perhaps the biggest impact Barbie has on a group of people is children. With many of them playing with her for years, they look up to her and see her as a role model. When Barbie was created, many stereotypes that were pushed onto women for so many years were defied, one of them being what careers they could pursue. Barbie has had many different careers such as being a veterinarian, firefighter, architect and even a paleontologist. Something as simple as a doll showing what is possible in the world has inspired young girls everywhere to explore their talents, chase after their dreams and teach them that they can do anything they set their minds to.