Why the Barbie doll divorced Ken, and then returned to him again

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Calling her just a doll doesn’t dare. Barbie immediately became popular and in demand, and during her existence she had a plastic family, home, spouse, children, friends, various professions. However, the world of pink plastic is forced to react to all changes in the real world, since the Barbie doll has too much of an influence on the minds of the younger generation, so serious that toy manufacturers are now and then criticized, and their doll is still being bought by more and more generations of girls. …

The story of the appearance of Barbie

From a young age, girls are given dolls for playing "mothers and daughters", in which the role of the mother is assigned to the child himself. A kind of training ground at home with a plastic doll that you need to take care of. This has always been the case, at least until the 60s of the last century. Ruth Hendler watched her own daughter play with much more interest in cardboard dolls, which were created in the image of an adult woman, dressing them up in all kinds of outfits, while the dolls were gathering dust in boxes. So maybe girls who want to be like their mother so much need a completely different doll?

Barbie is owned by Mattel, one of the largest manufacturers of baby products in the world, founded in 1945 by Ruth Handler. In fact, initially she and her husband produced baguettes for paintings, but after the end of the war, the world craved entertainment, many children were born, on whom huge sums were spent. The couple decided that this could become the basis of their business and began at first to produce doll houses, music boxes, and only then moved on to dolls.

The spouses, clearly possessing a commercial streak, begin to advertise their brand during the Mickey Mouse Club show (the very program with which almost every second Hollywood star started). This is how their brand becomes recognizable and very popular. The company is already making a good profit until they have a Barbie that will literally break all stereotypes and become the best-selling toy of all time.

The prototype of the children's doll is the pin-up Lilly doll for adults. Her image often appeared in comics, where she personified a beauty with a bright, aggressive-sexual appearance who robbed wealthy men. Mattel bought the rights to Lilly and smoothed her appearance and began to make a doll for children. It was Barbie, the first batch that all major suppliers turned down. An adult doll, with strange body proportions, bright makeup and too sexy - the risk was too high. Then the company goes around and starts retailing on its own. The lot was sold out almost instantly.

The first doll had hair gathered in a ponytail, there were earrings in the ears, sandals on the legs, she had a swimsuit … it was in this way that she appeared during advertising and so many orders were received that the manufacturer could not fully satisfy them. Moreover, it was the girls who fell in love with the new doll, and, despite the fact that their parents, who grew up on completely different toys, were skeptical about the purchase, it was still made.

Since then, the history of the formation of the Barbie doll begins, an ageless beauty, who, by the way, is already over 60, reacts very subtly to any change in the world and, perhaps, like no other toy, reacts to customer requests.

A couple of years later, Barbie got a boyfriend Ken (that was the name of the author's son Barbie), then Midge's best friend, Skipper's sister. Now she has a lot of relatives, she broke up with Ken. She has recovered a little more and has applied drawbacks in the arsenal of accessories. For example, stretch marks, freckles, or scars.

How Barbie became an active member of civil society

The fact that Barbie is definitely not about "play and forget", the company declared with the support of feminists, whose movement was gaining momentum in the 60s. The women of the world fought for their rights, and the doll makers supported them with the creation of the Barbie Professional series. More than 80 images in various professions, and those that were considered exclusively male, were supposed to prepare the younger generation of girls for the fact that the profession has no gender.

This, of course, raised the popularity of the doll, because now you can choose your own Barbie, which is already working on what the girl wants to become. Or maybe she is a teacher like a mom or an engineer like a dad. The more popular Barbie becomes, the more claims are made against her. For a start, everyone is outraged by the number of accessories. The indignation is quite understandable, because parents had to not only make one purchase - a doll, but to provide for its growing needs, providing it with a house, a car, wardrobe items and family members.

Barbie begins to be accused of promoting consumer attitudes, but the creators of the toy do not even think to pacify her appetites. Ruth Handler is sure that this is how dolls are played - dressing her up, creating different looks for her, suitable for certain situations and circumstances. This, in her opinion, helps to form aesthetic perception. For Barbie, outfits were created by a whole army of stylists.

When Barbie's friend, Midge, became a family, and her image was supplemented with a tummy from which a baby was removed (there was an older child in the kit), an additional flurry of criticism fell, they say such a naturalistic image of motherhood can push teenage girls to growing up too early. Moms and dads insisted that the line be replenished with a baby doll. However, she was not at all in demand among the direct consumer - girls. They continued to insist on purchasing dolls with adult features and accessories.

In 1967, Barbie began to be produced with hinges, this made her mobile - she could dance, bend at the waist, take a variety of poses. A rocket designer worked on the creation of a new model and invented individual hinges for it. The figure of the doll has become more mobile, thanks to which it has become even more desirable and salable, and it has become much easier to change clothes, and more interesting to play.

Ken has always sold worse, for obvious reasons. Girls preferred dresses and accessories for the doll, rather than her partner, who also cost a little less than Barbie herself. Ken was removed from production and a wave of indignation immediately arose, because a lonely Barbie will unwittingly push those who play this Barbie today to the absence of personal life in the future. Ken was brought back. It turned out that in spite of the fact that he was actually included in the "accessories" for the main toy, he played a too noticeable and important role. He defended the reputation of being too freedom-loving and beautiful Barbie from unnecessary questions and speculation. Because Barbie continued to be married.

In 1969, Barbie got a black girlfriend Christie, this novelty is perceived by the public with a bang, sales are growing.

In the 70s, stylists began to transform Barbie herself, made her more natural, capriciously folded lips disappeared, an attractive snow-white smile, long drawn eyelashes and an upturned nose appeared. It was during this period that the face of Barbie was created, with which she is still produced, a kind of brand name. In total, in the entire history of the doll's existence, its appearance has changed almost 20 times.

The release of the series in different nationalities was another sure step for a tolerant and dynamic company. Why should Indian girls play with a blonde Barbie when all the women around them have jet black hair? And it's beautiful! For the African-American woman, who was already graduating, they began to make a Spaniard, an Italian, only 11 nationalities, so that girls from all over the world feel comfortable with their appearance and personality.

In the 80s, the image of a Barbie - a business woman began to be cultivated. She wears business suits, drives expensive cars and prefers low-key clothing. Her career is not just as good as that of men, she can devote a lot of time to her.

In the 90s, when the image of a blonde in chocolate becomes popular, Barbie is elevated to a cult, of course, because her consumer lifestyle only worsened, despite the fact that according to legend, she earned on her “Wishlist” herself, and was not a kept woman or a wealthy heiress. In 1994, they released Barbie in a wheelchair, and in honor of the 40th anniversary of the doll, the manufacturers donate $ 1.5 million to the education of girls around the world.

Almost throughout the entire history of the existence of Barbie dolls, its manufacturers were tirelessly reproached for unrealistic body proportions, they say, girls, idealizing their favorite doll, will strive for the same figure that is unreal for living women. Girls will suffer from complexes, and boys will make exaggerated and biased demands on the female figure, driving the former into even deeper complexes. The circle has closed, and the allegedly ordinary children's toy is to blame for this.

Claims about the doll's appearance became even more exaggerated when body-positive began to gain momentum. Already in 2000, a model of the doll was made, which has very real proportions of the female body. At the same time, it was determined that Barbie, if she were alive, could only move on all fours, since her proportions make it impossible to walk upright. However, the fact that the most popular doll in the world is now made and sold in a different body does not in any way negate the ordinary Barbie, which has been bought and bought by thousands around the world. Even if she turns out to be unable to walk and cultivates complexes in girls. We will survive.

In 2004, Barbie leaves Ken and, despite the fact that this does not fit well into the pink doll reality, the producers are sure that this only reflects one of the facets of reality, showing the girls that everything happens in life, and this is nothing out of the ordinary out there. This is supposed to teach young women to cope more easily with losses and disappointments in real life.

Today, the line of Barbie dolls is perhaps so extensive that few people will be able to make claims to the manufacturer, accusing them of infringing on the interests of certain categories of the population. Modern models have not only different heights, weight, skin color, eyes and hair, but also an additional set of "shortcomings". The doll can be used to stick freckles, stretch marks on the abdomen, a scar after surgery, and much more. All this should help girls more easily perceive their own body and not have complexes.

Who is Barbie Roberts?

For the doll, which only has pets, there are 40 species, a legend was invented that made her an ordinary girl. She was born in Wisconsin, although New York was later listed as Barbara's birthplace, the son of George and Margaret Roberts. She meets Ken early, they have been in a relationship for more than 40 years, part, divorce, but then converge again, the relationship is not officially registered again.

Initially, Barbie was presented in the form of a teenager, although, frankly, she hardly resembles a teenage girl, her figure is too feminine. In addition, her friend is already twice a mother, and the number of relatives of Barbie herself is constantly increasing. It is not surprising, because if a girl already has a favorite doll, then toy manufacturers can lose a potential client for a long time, because girls can play with one doll for a very long time, independently making outfits for her. But husbands, girlfriends and cousins noticeably expand consumer interest in these toys.

For a huge amount of time, Barbie has remained the best-selling doll, but sales have dropped noticeably over the past decade. This is due to the fact that the range of such dolls is huge. In addition, many of them are made in support of cartoons and depict your favorite characters. Barbie makers even sued Bratz dolls for plagiarism. At first, they managed to win the case and dolls with large heads were discontinued. But then the case was reconsidered and they returned to the shelves, and Mattel paid a forfeit and a fine for false accusations.

Now there are many Barbie dolls on the market that have the ability to connect to a computer and talk to a child, record videos, build a dialogue and conduct educational programs. It would seem that this is a dream, not a toy, because she knows how to talk and does it with the help of artificial intelligence. However, most parents are in no hurry to buy a too smart Barbie for their children, believing that such a technically equipped toy can be subject to hacker attacks, and their child's personal data can be leaked to the network.

Despite the fact that the doll was continually criticized by adults, it was they who and every time confirmed that Barbie takes too much of a place in the world of their children. Otherwise, why would mums and dads be so worried about the color of hair, skin, waist thickness and breast size of some kind of children's toy? Just agreeing that Barbie has been shaping girly (and not only) psychology for decades, teaching them gender relations, instilling in them a love of beauty and aesthetics, outfits and jewelry, can Mattel be accused of wrong policies.

Although it should be given its due, not every simple toy has such a rich history and production concept that is so tolerant to any area of life. Barbie can be any stupid, superficial, disproportionate consumer, but girls all over the world have seen her as their main girlfriend for five decades. And largely due to the fact that the doll manufacturer was not only interested in sales, but demonstrated loyalty to his customer.

Society was changing - Barbie was changing. The girls wanted to feel beautiful, and she helped them grow up as self-sufficient women with a minimum of complexes. This, perhaps, deserves respect.

Barbie is often associated with something airy marshmallow pink. A girly toy, in girly colors, why are girls dressed in pink at all and who invented it?