The iconic doll has been an important symbol for many girls over the years.
The Barbie doll turned 65 today and thus reached retirement age. Barbie was first introduced on March 9, 1959 at the Toy Fair in New York.
The doll that revolutionized girls’ games quickly rose to iconic fame and has since left its mark on fashion and popular culture.
A pensioner on the crest of a wave
Barbie’s target retirement age of 65 years and five months comes in September, it appears From the Pension Security Center’s counter.
On the threshold of her target retirement age, Barbie is more relevant than in many years Greta Gerwig because of the Barbie movie he directed. The film was one of last year’s box office magnets.
The Barbie movie received a total of 8 Oscar nominations at the Oscar gala held tomorrow, March 10, the most significant being the best film category. There were no nominations for the best male or female lead for the film.
From baby dolls to career women
The story of Barbie began when an American entrepreneur Ruth Handler came to the realization that her daughter Barbara would rather play with a doll representing an adult than a child. At the time, the girl was playing with paper figures representing adults that she had made herself. Handler named the doll after her daughter Barbara as Millicent Robertsshort for Barbie.
The role model was a doll based on a sexy cartoon character intended for adults that caught Handler’s eye on a trip to Germany.
Barbie was an immediate success: The doll, produced with the toy company Mattel, sold 350,000 units in its first year. Since then, over a billion dolls have been sold.
Barbie has been seen as a symbol of empowering girls. With the help of their Barbie games, the girls were able to imagine a career for themselves. When in the 1980s women entered the working life in the United States, Barbie also made a career in several professions.
New skins
Barbie has come a long way in 65 years. The doll turns years old in a world where the diversity of dolls is greater than ever.
When the Barbie doll began its journey, its appearance was already the iconic slender and blonde Barbie doll. Especially in the early 2000s, Barbie received a lot of criticism for creating unrealistic appearance pressures for young girls.
Over the years, Barbie has acquired new shades to her being. For example, the first dark-skinned Barbie entered the market in the 1970s. Today, Barbie is available in 35 different skin tones, 97 different hairstyles and 9 different body types. Barbies are also available, for example, in wheelchairs and with Down syndrome.