58 years ago today Ruth and Elliot Handler, founders of Mattel Creations, launched the famous children’s toy, the Barbie doll. The Barbie doll, named after the Handlers’ daughter, Barbara Millicent Roberts, was met with skepticism at first, but they persisted eventually becoming the top toy maker. Their popularity linked to children’s, especially girls’ ability to experiment and play make-believe, imagining unique and creative futures.
For the time, 1959, the Barbie doll was expensive, selling at $3. When you consider that “a gallon of gas was 25 cents, [and that] the average annual wage was $5,000” the doll was not exactly accessible. In their first year, Mattel sold 300,000 dolls.
Mattel’s launch of the Barbie doll shocked the New York Toy Fair and filled a void the toy making industry had not realized existed. Now the most popular doll in the world Barbie has come a long way since 1959, having undergone over 180 transformations over the past few decades. To the joy of Ruth Handler, Barbie came to represent everything she had hoped for: “My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be, Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices.”
To learn more about the origins of the Barbie Doll and her evolution check out the links below: