The
Barbie doll came as an inspiration to Mattel co-founder
Ruth Handler
as she watched her young daughter, Barbara, playing with
her paper dolls.
Barbara and her friends liked to play make-believe with
the dolls,
imagining them in roles as college students and adults
with careers.
Ruth immediately recognized that playing make-believe and
pretending about the future is an important part of
growing up.
In researching the marketplace, she discovered a void and
was determined to fill the niche with a three-dimensional
fashion doll.
Her all male design staff, however, had their doubts.
Mattel introduced Barbie, the Teen-Age Fashion Model to
skeptical toy buyers at the annual Toy Fair in New York
in 1959.
Never before had they seen a doll so completely unlike
the baby and toddler dolls popular at the time.
Mattel used innovative television advertising to reach
its audience
and instantly had a hit! Thus Barbie was born, and 40
years later,
this 1.9 billion-dollar-a-year industry is stronger than
ever.
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