Barbie is a doll used as a children’s toy, whose creation dates from March 9, 1959 and is produced by Mattel. She was created by businesswoman Ruth Handler and was based on the German doll Bild Lilli.
Since its launch, the doll has been considered the company’s most famous and profitable brand, to the point of being considered a great icon of the company and pop culture. Given its success, the doll has hosted numerous collections, clothing, sets, and friends, as well as its own movies, comics, arcades and cartoons.
By the 1950s, Ruth Handler and her husband Elliot Handler were observing the behavior of their daughter Barbara who played only with paper dolls and usually personified them as adult dolls, since until then all dolls made in the United States were only representations. of children. Ruth suggested to her husband (one of the founders of Mattel ) the idea of creating an adult doll.
During her trip to Europe in 1959, Ruth met a German doll named Bild Lilli that had been around since 1955. The doll had the perfect proportions for what would be an adult doll, so Ruth bought 3 of them, giving one to her daughter and using the others to serve as a basis for creating your own doll. The Lilli doll originated from a newspaper strip of the German newspaper Bild, originally aimed at the adult audience.
When she returned to the United States, Ruth redesigned the doll with the help of designer Jack Ryan and named her daughter Barbara, shortened as Barbie. The doll was officially launched at the Fair Annual Toys New York, the 9 of March of 1959, a date that was also made official as the official anniversary of the doll. The doll was sold for $ 3 in the first copies, which had 340,000 dolls. At first two versions of her were introduced, one brunette and one blonde, but later left her look definitely blonde. Given Barbie’s immense success worldwide, years later Mattel bought the rights to the Bild Lilli doll. and it stopped being manufactured in 1964.
Since its inception new models of Barbies have been created, with new clothes, hairstyles and make-up, becoming more contemporary over the years. Very soon also began the development of her family in 1961 with the arrival of her boyfriend Ken, who alongside Barbie always followed the fashion of the time, varying the haircut according to the latest style. In 1963 she received her first friend, Midge ( Viky, in the Brazilian version) and in 1964 Barbie received her first baby sister, Skipper. Both maids responded to requests, to avoid a controversy that said the doll was a sex symbol.
Over the years Barbie has received new friends besides Midge, the best known Teresa (1988), Summer (2004), Nikki (2006), Raquelle (2007) and Grace (2009). Barbie also received other younger sisters such as the twins Tutti and Todd (1966), Stacie (1990), Kelly (1995) and Krissy (1999). However after several years the sisters were reduced to just 3: Skipper, Stacie and Chelsea, the latter as Kelly’s replacement in 2009.
Since the early 2000s, the doll has become the protagonist of a long series of animated films sold via DVDs, but also broadcast on television channels. In the United States there have been several occasions that some films have been broadcast on channels like Nickelodeon and Boomerang. In Brazil, the films have already passed through channels such as Rede Globo, SBT and Cartoon Network (the latter two still continue to broadcast the movies quite often).
