What you might not know about Barbie

In this new post entry, we will look to Barbie dolls distinctive facts that are not very commonly heard everywhere.

As we have known from earlier posts, Barbie is 52 years old now. To start with these facts about Barbie, we can begin saying Barbie’s full name: Barbie Millicent Roberts. Barbie is from the state of Wisconsin, but she then moved to live in Malibu where she started her career. Over the years, Barbie has had a widely variety of pets; she has had 6 cats, a dozen of horses and even a zebra. This doll has had more than 80 careers in her life; she has been a rook star, paleontologist, president candidate, medic sergeant, and astronaut, to name a few, but Barbie’s first career was as a teenage fashion model.

Barbie has also had a global impact. She has appeared in over 45 different nationalities. Statistics have shown that every second, two Barbie dolls are sold somewhere in the 150 nations she is marketed in the world. It is actually said that there are enough Barbie dolls and friends sold that this quantity could circle the world almost 8 times!

Barbie has also been present in important historical events.

 In 1990, the Freundshcafts (Friendship) Barbie doll was launched into the market to commemorate the tearing down of the Berlin Wall.

Barbie has never got behind in her fashion policy. Barbie doll’s collection has included designs by Versace, Dolce & Gabana, Gucci, Vera Wang and Givenchy. It is estimated that Barbie has had nearly one hundred new acquisitions to her clothing, and more than a billion pair of shoes added annually.

Sources:

Von Patten, Denise. "Barbie Fun Facts." Doll Collecting at About - Explore Dolls from Bru to Barbie! Web. 21 Sept. 2011. <http://collectdolls.about.com/library/blbarbiefacts.htm>.

Courtesy of Mattel, Inc. and are ©Mattel, Inc. 2000. All Rights Reserved by Mattel, Inc.

Mexican Barbie

Since this week we are celebrating Mexican Independence, this post entry will be about Barbie in Mexico.

In 1994 Barbie released Quinceañera Teresa in Mexico to celebrate Girls Day.  This Barbie doll was dressed with the typical pink Quinceañera dress; this special edition launched by Barbie was created to represent fifteen-year old Mexican teenagers who were facing the change from being a girl to a teenager.

This celebration has been very special in Mexican culture for many years, and it has a distinctive tradition called “The last doll”. It consists of a dance between the fifteen year old girl and her dad giving her a last doll as a symbol that she is already a grown up.

Barbie has also launched Barbie dolls dressed up with typical Mexican dresses in its Barbie Doll Collection. 

In June of this year, the “Barbie Awards 2011” took place for the first time in Mexico City.  In this event several prominent Mexican women received recognition, three of these women were the diver Paola Espinosa, painter Martha Chapa and actress Diana Bracho.

These women said they identified themselves with Barbie dolls because they consider her selves struggling and successful women. The diver Paola Espinosa said that since little, she felt inspired in being someone in life, being beautiful, being a woman and all that entails Barbie role.

The ceremony made allusion to Barbie’s more than 100 jobs the blonde doll has played over 52 years of life. But the most important of all, it was specially done to recognize Mexican women who reached their dreams and succeed in any job they loved. 

Bibliography:

Van Pattern, Denise. "Barbie Fun Facts." Doll Collecting at About - Explore Dolls from Bru to Barbie! Web. 15 Sept. 2011. <http://collectdolls.about.com/library/blbarbiefacts.htm>.

"Barbie Awards 2011." TERRA. TERRA NETWORKS MÉXICO, S.A. DE C.V. Web. 15 Sept. 2011. <http://www.terra.com.mx/mujer/articulo/1146180/Barbie+Awards+2011.htm>.

Love Story

When Barbie was first launched in the market in 1959, it became the most popular doll in the doll’s world. It was until 2 years later, in 1961 when Mattel decided to give her a male partner: Ken Carson.


And here is where the story begins.

The first time Barbie met Ken was on a TV set commercial the year of Ken’s launch into the market. Since then, Barbie and Ken were inseparable; they filmed several movies together, launched different dolls, and shared a doll life together. They were the perfect-love icon globally.

It was until 2004 Valentine’s Day when Mattel announced the world, Ken and Barbie were going to split apart and take different paths in their lives. The break up of the couple was big and shocking news for everyone who followed this couple love story.

Nevertheless, seven years later Ken wanted to get Barbie back, so Mattel launched a marketing campaign where they involved the use of social media for Barbie and Ken to get together again and so people could vote in favor or against Barbie taking back Ken.

This campaign included mainly four social media networks (Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and YouTube) where Ken could show Barbie how much he wanted to get her back and people could follow this love story again.

The campaign lasted since January to February 2011, and at the end the campaign released positive results: Ken and Barbie were back together again.

Here is the social media campaign:

Sources:

Swallow, Erika. "How Barbie & Ken Were Reunited by Social Media." Social Media News and Web Tips – Mashable – The Social Media Guide. 05 May 2011. Web. 07 Sept. 2011. <http://mashable.com/2011/05/05/barbie-ken-social-media/>.

Jeremy, Low. "The Love Story of Barbie and Ken." Ezine Articles. 10 June 2007. Web. 07 Sept. 2011. <http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Love-Story-of-Barbie-and-Ken&id=600749>.

"Barbie and Ken Are Together Again! - YouTube." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 07 Sept. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0IQBgfphk4>.

Real Barbie Dolls

On previous posts, I talked about how fabulous Barbie has been for many girls and women’s lives.  Now I’m going to analyze the other side of Barbie dolls. Barbie came to revolute the doll’s world. As I said on previous posts, Barbie was first on sale in 1959 and it produced a great impact on many girls because this was the very first plastic 11 ½” doll in the United States that looked as a fashionable perfect and beautiful woman in miniature. However, not everybody shared this opinion. Many specialists argued that Barbie dolls were not a good model figure for girls who tried to imitate everything they see.

Linda Lowen’s article “Barbie’s impact on girls and women” said that according to a Boston University student: K. Wysocki, Barbie’s legs would be 50% larger than her arms, when a normal woman has her legs 20% larger than her arms and her neck would be twice larger than a normal woman’s neck, which will make this impossible to keep the head standing by itself. Specialists said that if Barbie were a real life woman, she would be 170 cm tall and weigh 54 kilograms.   She would have measurements of 96 cm for her breast, 45 cm for her waist and 86 cm for her hips. These measurements look spectacular but at the same time they are unreal. Statistics shown that only 1 out of 100,000 women would develop this body naturally. A real woman with these measurements and due to her skinny waist would not be able to menstruate and for instance, would not be able to get pregnant.

Due to all the critics Barbie dolls received from parents, specialists, and society in general, Mattel had to make Barbie undergo several changes in her physical appearance when in 1999 they say Barbie doll’s sales dropped from $2 billion to $1.5 billion. 

People might blame Barbie dolls for some psychological and eating disorders on girls such as anorexia and bulimia, but to bring to an end, we cannot completely blame these dolls of making girls turn sick and obsessive about their figure, because at the end when it comes the time for deciding what to eat, responsibility is implied in every aspect of our lives.

Sources:

Lowen, Linda. "After 50 Years, What Is Barbie's Impact on Girls and Women?"Women's Issues - All About Women's Issues. About.com, 09 Mar. 2009. Web. 31 Aug. 2011. <http://womensissues.about.com/b/2009/03/09/after-50-years-what-is-barbies-impact-on-girls-and-women.htm>.

"Barbie Body Image - How Toys like Barbie Influence Our Body Image." Teen Beauty Tips...Helping You Find Your True Beauty! Web. 31 Aug. 2011. <http://www.teen-beauty-tips.com/barbie-body-image.html>.

Barbie Collection

Mattel has developed different Barbie dolls with distinctive characteristics. Specialists and fashion designers have worked together to create the Barbie Dolls Collection. 

We can find every kind of Barbie doll in this wide collection. Fashion dolls created by recognized designers such as Christian Louboutin, Burberry, Giorgio Armani, Juicy Couture, Vera Wang, and Versace are some of the participants in this collection.

Every season, new dolls are released in the market and their prices vary from $30 to $200 dollars approximately. This collection has all types of dolls: Hollywood style, Pop Culture, Vintage Repros, Special Occasion, World Culture, Artist style, among others.

Representations in Barbie dolls of important T.V, movies, art, and history characters are also created.

Some Barbie dolls inspired in important characters are: Grace Kelly, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Vincent Van Gogh, and Leonardo da Vinci.

Barbie has also been present in many countries around the globe. Last year, on June 16 of 2010 Barbie collectors converged on Ellis Island for the opening reception of the Dolls of the World exhibit. The purpose of this exhibit was to celebrate 30 years of Barbie diversity around the world. 

Elvis PresleyVan Gogh

 Grace Kelly

Mona Lisa 

Sources:

"Collection Fall 2011." Barbie Collector. Web. 24 Aug. 2011. <http://www.barbiecollector.com/>.

Ellis Island - FREE Port of New York Passenger Records Search. Web. 24 Aug. 2011. <http://www.ellisisland.org/barbie/barbie.asp>.

"Inside the Barbie Dolls of the World/Ellis Island Launch Party - YouTube." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 24 Aug. 2011. 
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAHGr0i-Duk>.

Barbie: once upon a time...

Barbie, not only a doll but a real girl. Ruth and Elliot Handler were a young married couple who owned a small company with their friend Harold Matson: "Mattel" which they started in their garage in Southern California.

At the beginning they sold picture frames and dollhouse furniture. Later, Ruth Handler got inspired by her daughter Barbara's fascination for cutout paper dolls, and created the first three-dimensional doll called "Barbie". Ruth adopted the idea when she went on a trip to Switzerland and purchased a German Lilli doll that was 11.5" or 7" tall. Ruth new exactly how she wanted Barbie to look like. She expected Barbie to be a fashion icon. She wanted Barbie to be characterized for her beauty and shape, Ruth hired fashion designers to create Barbie's clothes. Nevertheless, the most important for Ruth was Barbie to become a doll for girls to play out their dreams.

Barbie #1 was known by her stripped black and white swimsuit and wedding dress. The patent was obtained in 1958 and went on sail in the New York Toy Show in 1959, receiving a good response from buyers. Barbie dolls were demanded at many toy stores, and this placed Mattel in the front of the toy industry. Barbie was the beginning of a new dolls generation. 

A doll like "Barbie" was never known before, it was not the typical baby doll every little girl was used to play with. Barbie became a fashion symbol, and throughout the years it turned globally recognized. Barbie had such a success that within 10 years from its launching, $500 million were purchased of Barbie products. 

This is the beginning of the story, and throughout this Blog we will be exploring more about it.

Welcome to our Barbie World!





Sources:
"Barbie History." Deni's Vintage Barbie Collection. Web. 16 Aug. 2011. <http://www.dolls4play.com/barbiehistory.html>.


"Barbie History." Barbie & Madame Alexander Dolls, Nightmare Before Christmas, Corolle Baby Dolls, Green Toys & Disney Merchandise. Web. 16 Aug. 2011. <http://www.billbam.com/barbiehistory.html>.