Information about Barbie dolls

Barbie doll profile full name: barbie millicent roberts (barbie millicent roberts)

Birthday:1March 9, 959

Height: 170cm

Weight: 50 kg

Kenny's full name: Ken Carson [Editor's paragraph] The controversy caused by Barbie's popularity affirmed her influence on western children and attracted a high degree of supervision. Most of her criticisms are based on the assumption that children will regard Barbie as a model and try to imitate her.

1:In September 2003, Saudi Arabia, a Middle Eastern country, banned Barbie from selling in China, believing that Barbie did not conform to Islamic thought. The Committee's vice-chairman in charge of reproductive ethics and prevention said: "The revealing clothes and shameful posture of the Jewish Barbie doll are symbols of the depravity of the West. We should pay attention to her danger and be careful. "

2. In the Middle East, there is a doll named Rafe, similar to Barbie, but designed to cater to the Islamic market, and she is not produced by Mattel. In Iran, besides Barbie dolls, there are Sarah and Dara dolls to choose from.

"Barbie" has become a derogatory term to describe stupid women, and the most famous song is "Barbie's Girl". Mattel produced a talking Barbie doll on 1992. The sentences that this series of dolls can say include: "Do we think we have enough clothes?" "I love shopping!" And "Want a pizza party?" . Every doll can say four of the 270 sentences, so no two dolls are the same. Although only 1.5% of dolls will say, "Math class is difficult!" However, it has attracted criticism from the American Federation of University (Postgraduate) Women (American Association of University Women). 1992 10, Mattel announced that Barbie would never say that again, and provided a substitute for the doll owner.

4. Barbie's waistline One of the most common criticisms of Barbie is that she promotes unrealistic female body images, which leads to anorexia among women who imitate Barbie. Critics say that if a woman wants to have Barbie's figure, she needs to be 7 feet 2 inches tall, weigh 1 15 to 130 pounds, have a hip circumference of 30 days to 36 inches, a waist circumference of 18 to 23 inches and a chest circumference of 38 to 48 inches. At the same time, she will lack enough 17% to 22% fat to maintain menstruation. 1997 Barbie's waistline has increased after the redesign. Mattel pointed out that this change will make Barbie more suitable for wearing modern fashion designs.

5. "Colored Frances" first appeared in 1967, and she is sometimes described as the first African-American Barbie. However, she is made from the mold of Caucasian Francie doll, and has no correct racial appearance except dark skin. Kristi debuted at 1968, and is generally regarded as the first African-American doll in Barbie series. Black Barbie and Latino Barbie were put on the market on 1980.

6. 1997, Mattel cooperated with Na Beske to jointly promote Barbie and Oreo cookies. Oreo Barbie is promoted as a doll that little girls can play with and shared with "America's most popular cookies" after class. Mattel regularly releases white and black versions of dolls. Critics say Oreo is a derogatory term among African-Americans, describing people who look like this biscuit: black on the outside and white on the inside. This kind of doll was not successful in the market. Mattel recycled the unsold inventory, which aroused the interest of collectors.

7: 65438+May 0997 Mattel launches dolls to share Becky in a pink wheelchair with a smile. Kjersti Johnson, a 7-year-old high school student with cerebral palsy in Tacoma, Washington, pointed out that dolls in Barbie's dollhouse could not enter the elevator. Later, Mattel announced that it would redesign the dollhouse to match the dolls in the future.

8:20051February, Dr. Agnes Nairn of the University of Bath published a research report, suggesting that girls usually go through a stage of hating Barbie, and they will treat Barbie with different punishments, including beheading and putting dolls in the microwave oven. He said denying Barbie was like denying your past. [Edit this paragraph] Barbie was born. Ruth Handler is the founder of Barbie, the longest-selling toy in the world toy market, and later founded Mattel Toy Company, one of the most successful female entrepreneurs in the United States. Now, Barbie dolls have been sold to more than 50 countries around the world, with total sales exceeding10 billion yuan.

On April 28th, 2002, major newspapers and periodicals forwarded a surprising news one after another: Ruth Handler, the 85-year-old creator of Barbie, passed away. For half a century, Barbie created by Ruth has almost become the darling of little girls all over the world. With the popularity of this doll with big eyes and long hair, Barbie doll today is not only a toy, but also a symbol of American women and American culture, just like McDonald's and KFC all over the world. As the founder of this brand, Ruth has given dreams and hopes to women all over the world with her lifelong efforts.

Ruth Handler was born in Denver, the capital of Colorado. Her parents were originally Polish. In order to avoid military service, they took a hot and dirty steamboat to the other side of the ocean, just like countless immigrants who came to the United States to find their dreams.

Ruth's father is a blacksmith and supports Ruth and her nine sisters on a small income. Her mother worked hard for her family all day, but the hardships of life didn't seem to bring much harm to this big family. Mom and dad never lose their temper with their children. Later, Ruth Handler once recalled that as the youngest child, she never lacked love when growing up. It is because there is so much love from childhood that she will have childlike innocence and design a lovely Barbie doll.

/kloc-When she was 0/9 years old, Ruth was only a sophomore. She is not tall, but full of curiosity. Curious about movies, she came to Hollywood alone, but she came to this tempting place not to be a movie star, but to study industrial design. Luckily, she got a job in the famous Paramount photo studio. Here, she met the love of her life, Elliot Handler. They soon fell in love and got married.

1942, ambitious Handler and his wife started their company in a garage. The original product was a wooden frame, Elliot developed the sample and Ruth was responsible for the sales.

By chance, Handler tried to make small furniture from the waste left over from making picture frames and found that it sold well, so the company added another business to design and manufacture furniture for children's playrooms. A few years later, the company began to make money, and its main business turned to producing toys. 1945, Mr. and Mrs. Handler and their friend Manson started a company, which later became the most famous and successful doll production company. The name of the company is MATTEL, MATT is named after Manson, and EL is named after Elliot.

At that time, Ruth had a daughter. As a mother and a businessman who makes toys, she attaches great importance to children's ideas. One day, she suddenly saw her daughter Barbara and a little boy playing with paper-cut dolls. These paper-cut dolls were not common babies at that time, but teenagers with their own careers and identities, which made her very addicted. "Why not be a mature doll?" Inspiration came into Ruth's mind.

Although inspired, the journey to realize it is arduous. Before Barbie was born, little girls' toys in the American market were mostly cute little angels, round and chubby, similar to the screen image of the famous child star Shirley Temple. This is an adult's imagination of children's toys, but judging from the interest of older children, such toys are slightly "naive". They need playmates their own age, not a baby.

What do you want your doll to look like? Ruth thought hard. Just then, she needed to go to Europe on business, so Ruth came to Germany. Here, she saw a doll named "Lily", which was very beautiful. It was first made in 1955, and it was based on a famous cartoon image in the beard in the West German era. Lily is made of hard plastic with a height of 18 ~ 30 cm. Her long hair was tied in a ponytail and dragged behind her head, wearing a gorgeous dress. The figure is impeccable, all kinds of signs are available, and the clothes are also "exposed".

So Ruth bought three "lilies" and brought them back to America. She told male colleagues in the company that she wanted to design a "mature" toy, but they thought that "Lily" clothes were too revealing, which was the product of satisfying male fantasies and not suitable for children.

Ruth was not discouraged. She thought, why can't I combine these two points? What a child needs is a doll that grows up but is not exposed. A little girl needs not only a doll of the same age, but also an ideal image when she grows up. As a result, Barbie's appearance became more and more mature in Ruth's mind. With the help of company technicians and engineers, Barbie was born!

Out of concern for women, Ruth then invited fashion designer Charlotte Johnson to design clothes for Barbie. 1958, they obtained the patent right to produce Barbie dolls. This kind of doll will change an era. She is different from the previous doll. She is an adult, with slender limbs, fresh and moving. Although he has a good figure, he is tightly wrapped in beautiful clothes, and his face is as mysterious as Marilyn Monroe's, although his height is only 1 1.5 inches. Finally, Ruth gave her daughter Barbara a nickname "Barbie" for this lovely doll. [Edit this paragraph] The first batch of Barbie dolls growing up with Barbie dolls were produced in Japan and made their debut at the American Toy Fair on 1959. The name of the exhibition is "Barbie-a role model for girls". But to Ruth's surprise, "Barbie" was not snapped up, but was given a cold shoulder by toy dealers. After all, she is a brand-new thing and an adventure, and the dealers are reluctant to do so, but they just managed to get in a few.

But the market proved that Ruth's judgment was correct. Barbie doll in the corner of the dealer's shelf was warmly welcomed by the children. More and more people began to buy this fresh and gratifying toy, especially the little girl, who was very enthusiastic about it and sold 350,000 toys in the first year.

1960, the dealer completely changed his mind and the order flew to Mattel like a snowflake. It took the company several years to meet the demand for Barbie dolls. 10, the amount of Barbie dolls purchased by the public reached 500 million dollars.

However, while Barbie is widely welcomed by the public, it has also been criticized from all sides. American women's organizations first said that Barbie was too sexy and perfect, and set unattainable goals for the little girl. The final result is to hurt their self-esteem and make them feel inferior to their appearance and figure, so she is not a symbol of women's liberation, but plays the role of "persecuting women". Ruth doesn't think so. Barbie is a girl's idol. Idols are naturally perfect, and little girls will not feel inferior because of idols.

To prove that Barbie is not a vase with an empty heart, but a professional woman. Ruth designed more kinds of Barbie dolls. She has more identities, such as a doctor, an astronaut, a businesswoman, a policeman, an athlete and even a UNICEF volunteer. So far, she has engaged in more than 80 occupations. She can be China, Indian or black, and she represents 45 nationalities. She has more than 40 kinds of pets now. The first pet was a horse named Dancer. She has a boyfriend "Ken", named after Ruth's son. She has three sisters herself, namely Qiao Bi listed on 1964, Stacy listed on 1992, and Little Kelly who appeared on 1995.

This is an ordinary toy, but it is so real. On the one hand, she is incredibly beautiful and a "thousand-faced girl". On the other hand, she is so close to us because she has her own preferences like any little girl.

Opposition will still ring, but as a market image, "Barbie" is so successful. According to Mattel's statistics, an American girl of 1 1 may have 10 Barbie dolls, while a French girl of the same age has five. Besides children, millions of adult women also buy Barbie. "To them, no matter how old they are, she is not just a doll," Ruth said. "She has become a part of them." Barbie collectors are even more gender-neutral: a Barbie doll that costs $3 for 1959, if well preserved, may now be worth $5,000.

The first batch of Barbie dolls were produced in Japan and made their debut at the American Toy Fair on 1959. The name of the competition is "Barbie-a role model for girls". The appearance of Barbie was warmly welcomed by children, and more and more people began to buy this kind of doll. In the first year, 350,000 dolls were sold. In the following 65,438+00 years, the amount of Barbie dolls purchased by the public reached 500 million dollars. [Edit this paragraph] During the development of "Barbie" Ross Handler, it was found that her daughter Barbara (abbreviated as Barbie) likes to play with paper dolls, preferring to play with toys like adults, rather than babies or children. At that time, three-dimensional dolls mostly appeared in the image of babies or children. Ross knew the development space of adult dolls, so he put forward the idea of Barbie doll with her husband, Aria, one of the founders of Mattel. Unfortunately, Aria and other decision makers in the company are not interested in this plan. Ross Handler said: "Being able to play with a doll with breasts is very important for a little girl's self-image."

1956, when Rose, Barbara and Kenneth went to Switzerland, they found a German doll named Bild Lilli doll in the window of a shop in Lucerne. This adult doll coincides with Ruth Handler's doll, so she bought three Bild Lilli dolls, one for Barbara and the other two for Mattel. Lily doll is based on a popular cartoon character. She appeared in the cartoon column of Reinhard Biding in the newspaper. She is an independent professional woman. Lilli dolls were first sold in Germany, 1955. The initial target customers are adults, but they are also very popular with children, because they can dress up dolls with clothes sold separately.

After returning to the United States, Ross, with the help of engineer Jack Ryan, started to redesign the doll and named it Barbie after her daughter Barbara. On March 9th, 1959, Barbie made her first exposure at the American International Toy Fair in new york, which became Barbie's official birthday. After Mattel obtained the copyright of Bild Lilli doll on 1964, Bild Lilli doll was officially discontinued. The first Barbie wears a ponytail, a black-and-white zebra-patterned swimsuit, blonde hair and dark brown hair. In the early days, Barbie was a "young fashion model", and her clothes were designed by Mattel's fashion designer Charlotte Johnson. About 350,000 Barbie dolls were sold in the first year.

Rose thinks Barbie's adult appearance is very important. Preliminary market research shows that some parents don't like the obvious breasts of dolls. Barbie's appearance has been changed many times. The most obvious Barbie's eyes were adjusted to look forward at 197 1, instead of scanning one side at the beginning.

Barbie doll was one of the earliest toys promoted by TV, and this model was later widely used by other toys. According to statistics, Barbie dolls are sold in 150 countries, and more than 10 billion boxes have been sold. Mattel claims that it will sell three Barbie dolls every second.

The standard ratio of Barbie dolls and related products is about one to six, also known as playscale. Barbie's products are not limited to dolls and dolls' clothing, but also products under Barbie brand, such as books, fashion and video games. Barbie has appeared in a series of cartoons and made a guest appearance in Toy Story 2 from 65438 to 0999.

Another uniqueness of Barbie is that she has become a cultural symbol and won a rare honor in the toy industry. 1974, a part of Times Square in new york was named "Barbie Avenue" for a week. 1985, the postmodern artist andy warhol made the image of Barbie. [Edit this paragraph] Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. In the past few years, she has had many companions. The most famous is her handsome boyfriend Ken, who first appeared in 196 1. Like Barbie, Ken took the name of Ross Handler's son. Barbie and Ken's on-off and on-off are quite well known, and they also announced the news of their temporary separation in 2004. Other friends with different races and long-term contacts in Barbie's social circle include Spanish Teresa, African-American Christie and Steven (Christie's boyfriend) and Keira. A complete list of Barbie's friends can be found in the list of Barbie's friends and family.

According to Random House's novels in the 1960s, Barbie's parents are George and Margaret Trobas, both of whom are from a fictional town in Wisconsin called Hugh Ross, while Barbie attends Hugh Ross High School in Willows, Wisconsin and Manhattan International High School based on new york's fictional Stuyvesant High School.

Barbie has more than 43 kinds of pets, including 2 1 dog, 12 horse, 3 ponies, 6 cats, a parrot, a chimpanzee, a panda, a lion cub, a giraffe and a zebra. . She owns a pink convertible, trailer, jeep, etc. She also has a pilot's license. When she is not a flight attendant in the cabin, she will operate a commercial airliner. From dolls to cultural symbols, Barbie has been constantly improving and innovating since the first day of her birth. Barbie's appearance has been modified and improved more than 500 times, and it has become what it is today. The latest appearance is based on the famous Chinese American athlete Michelle Kwan. In order to make Barbie have beautiful fashion, from 1995 to now, about 1000 million pieces of clothes have been produced, and about100 pieces of new Barbie clothes are introduced every year. Now Barbie sells well in 150 countries all over the world, with total sales exceeding10 billion. This American girl, between a little girl and an adult woman, is the longest-selling toy in the world toy market and has become the favorite thing of all men, women and children in the world.

Now Barbie is 50 years old, but she is still young. She outlived the once popular broccoli dolls and teddy bears. No one knows why, even her creator Ruth Handler can't explain it. Whether in the toy world or in real life, longevity is a mysterious thing. Someone once asked Ruth Handler: Why did Barbie behave so well? She just smiled and replied, "I am a marketing genius." However, Mattel also produced many other types of toys. Not only did none of them have better performance than Barbie, but many of them died young. It should be said that Ruth's initial inspiration gave the doll eternal life. She was close to life and really created Barbie for her children.

Barbie has gone far beyond the definition of toys and become an immortal cultural symbol. She caught the attention of andy warhol, a master of pop music. His love for Barbie is no less than his infatuation with Marilyn Monroe. For a period of time in the late 1990s, "Barbie" appeared on American radio almost every day, although the Danish singing group sang "Barbie" loudly. She is a representative of life in the 20th century, a symbol of American women, and a modern Mona Lisa. Even serious universities have to condescend to study Barbie phenomenon. Students have to finish this assignment in sociology class: How has Barbie been criticized for becoming a role model? Do you think manufacturers should consider these criticisms? Although these questions may never have a "right" answer.

No matter what kind of discussion and praise it has caused, one thing is certain: "Barbie" is the first living woman born in the doll design industry, not a passive child. The adult design of "Barbie" has opened the eyes of little girls. They can perceive the world outside the kindergarten through "Barbie" and experience all aspects of adult life with "Barbie". From beach girls to politicians, Barbie's ever-changing image has inspired children's imagination, and they hope to be like Barbie when they grow up.

Barbie's success has brought Mattel a lot of wealth. 1966 By the time Ruth was 50 years old, Mattel had dominated the highly competitive toy world, controlling 12% of the $2 billion toy market. Ruth said, "I already have my career, my husband, my children, Barbie and Ken. I am on top of the world. "

But after that, Ruth's life was not smooth. From 65438 to 0970, Ruth was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent mastectomy. At the same time, Mattel's new director began to diversify the company's products and no longer focused on the production of toys. This policy eventually led to Ruth and her husband being forced to stay away from the company business they founded. 1975, Ruth resigned as president and left the company founded by herself and her husband.