Glimpse of history about barbie

 

Before Barbie became everyone’s BFF there were no teen or grown-up looking dolls in America, only dolls that looked like children.


Ruth and Elliot Handler founded Mattel Creations in 1945, and 14 years later, Ruth Handler gave the world the Barbie doll.  When asked her relationship to Barbie, Ruth simply replied, "I'm Barbie's mom."

The Barbie doll was invented in 1959 by Ruth Handler (co-founder of Mattel), whose own daughter was called Barbara.Ruth Handler, co-founder of Mattel Toys, had watched her daughter Barbara and friends play with paper dolls of grown-up women, and imagining themselves in grown-up roles. Finally, the idea hit her — why not make a teenage doll that little girls could play with? She set out to investigate the possibilities.

The market research came back – lots of three-dimensional baby and toddler dolls were available in the 1950s, but no older dolls were on the market. Despite initial skepticism from her husband and Mattel co-founder Elliot Handler, Ruth pursued her vision for three years, finally unveiling Barbie in 1959. Her historic debut took place at the New York Toy Fair, shocking industry pundits and toy critics. They’d never seen anything like Barbie, and didn’t realize the world had been waiting for someone just like her.
  Barbie's job was teenage fashion doll. The Ken doll was named after Ruth's son and was introduced two years after Barbie in 1961.