Barbie dolls

What are Barbie dolls?

Barbie is the single most popular doll in the world. Only in the US, the statistics say that an average girl owns 10 different Barbie dolls. Impressive?

What if I tell you that an average of two Barbie dolls are sold every second? This means that every hour, 7200 Barbie dolls are sold worldwide! Wow!

That means Barbie dolls are great!

Yes, it is true. Barbie is magnificent. Girls love to play with adult dolls because they can imagine themselves as adults, with important jobs and hobbies. The play itself is an imitation of adult activities.

Barbie is one such doll that helps girls see themselves in a wonderful and ideal future. In the 45 years that passed since she was born, the Barbie doll had tens of interesting jobs that every girl would like to have: model, businessperson, medic, astronaut, princess and much more.

During her free time, and she has lot of it, thanks to her wonderful job, she does everything that she likes: drives her 4X4 jeep, parties with friends, swims and never gets bored.

Barbie doll is never alone, because she has a little sister, Baby Kelly, and many friends: Barbie Ken, Midge, Skipper, Share a Smile Becky and Allan. They are inseparable and have lots of fun together.

I must say that Barbie dolls have a very interesting silhouette. The likelihood of a real woman to be shaped like that would be 1 in 100 000. Nevertheless, girls still dream of looking like Barbie.

A short history of Barbie dolls

In the early 50’s, the Handler husbands, Ruth and Elliot, noticed that their little girl preferred to play with adult toy dolls, rather than with baby ones.

They saw this as an interesting opportunity, and Elliot soon went with a model of his doll prototype to Mattel Corp., but they rejected the idea because it was too expensive.

After redesigning the doll, he returned to Mattel Corp. This time they accepted the idea with the name “Barbie” on it. She made her debut at the American Toy Fare in New York, in 1959. Everybody was surprised to see that 350 000 Barbie dolls only in the first year.

Till present day, around one billion Barbie dolls were sold worldwide. After the success of Barbie, Mattel introduced new friends that were very enthusiastically awaited by the fans: Barbie Ken in 1961, Midge in 1963, Skipper in 1965 and Christie, an African-American doll in 1968.

Nowadays you can’t buy only Barbie dolls, you can also buy Barbie clothes, cars, computers, barbie castles, video games and other interesting barbie accessories.

Being considered a very important American invention, a Barbie doll was buried in the official American Time Capsule in 1976, at the celebration of two centuries since US birth.

Choosing Barbie dolls

Choosing a good Barbie doll isn’t hard, given the fact that all of them are very interesting and of high quality. There is no secret way to choose a good Barbie doll. All of them are created to be an instant attraction to all girls.

However, when choosing a Barbie doll, you must consider safety. They have shoes and other accessories that are small enough to be easily swallowed. Be careful about this. Most Barbie dolls aren’t recommended to children younger than 3 years. Some are only for children older than 3 or 4 years.

Here's what's been going on with Barbie lately:

Sindy to battle Barbie with ?realistic? revamp
Sindy, the 40-year-old British fashion doll, is to get her most radical makeover in a relaunch planned for next year. Licensor Pedigree is to differentiate the brand from US rival Barbie and make Sindy a more realistic role model for young girls. The new Sindy launches in autumn 2004 and will no longer have the height [...]

Hilary Duff is being made into a Barbie doll
Mini Hilary Duffs are soon to go on sale in toyshops. The Red Carpet Glam Hilary Duff Doll - wearing a polka-dot dress and red satin sash - will be available in early 2007. ‘Hilary is a great role model to girls,’ says Jamie Wood, Mattel’s vice president of Barbie marketing. ‘Not only is she [...]