400 word essay, introducing barbie dolls

Rose Handler found that her daughter Barbara (Barbie is short for Barbie) liked to play with paper dolls, and preferred to play with toys that looked like adults rather than babies or children, and at that time, most three-dimensional dolls appeared in the image of babies or children. Rose knew that there was a market for adult dolls, so she and her husband, one of the founders of Mattel, proposed the idea of Barbie, but unfortunately, Alfred and the company's other decision-makers were not very interested in the project. Rose Handler said, "Being able to have fun with a doll that has breasts is very important to a little girl's self-image."

In 1956, when Rose was traveling to Switzerland with Barbara and Kenneth, she found a German doll called the Bild Lilli doll in a store window in Lucerne. The adult figure coincided with Ruth Handler's idea of a doll, so she purchased three Bild Lilli dolls, one of which she gave to Barbara and two of which she sent to Metalor. First introduced in Germany in 1955, the Lilli doll was originally aimed at adults, but later became popular with children, who were able to dress up their dolls in separate outfits.

After traveling back to the United States, Rose, with the help of engineer Jack Ryan, began designing dolls again and named them Barbie after her daughter Barbara. Barbie was first introduced at the American International Toy Fair in New York on March 9, 1959, which became Barbie's official birthday date. The Bild Lilli doll was officially discontinued after Mattel acquired the rights to the doll in 1964. The first Barbie doll had a ponytail, wore a black and white zebra print swimsuit, and had both blonde and dark brown hair. Initially nicknamed "Young Fashion Model", Barbie's clothes were designed by Mattel fashion designer Charlotte Johnson. About 350,000 Barbie dolls were sold in the first year after the launch.

Rose believes that Barbie's adult appearance is very important. Initial market research showed that some parents did not like the doll's visible breasts. Barbie's appearance has changed many times, most notably in 1971 when Barbie's eyes were adjusted to look forward instead of to the side, as they had initially been.

Barbie was one of the first to use television as a promotional toy, and this model was later widely used for other toys. According to statistics, Barbie is available in more than 150 countries and has sold more than 1 billion boxes, with Mattel claiming to sell three Barbie dolls every second.

The standard ratio of Barbie dolls and their related products is approximately one to six, which is also referred to as playscale. Barbie's products*** are not limited to dolls and doll clothing, but also include Barbie-branded merchandise such as books, fashion and video games. Barbie has appeared in a number of animated series and made a cameo appearance in the 1999 animation Toy Story 2.

Another unique feature of Barbie is that she has become a cultural icon and has received a rare honor in the toy world: in 1974, a portion of New York City's Times Square was named "Barbie Boulevard" for a week, and in 1985, postmodern artist Andy Warhol created an image of Barbie.