Move Over Barbie, American Girl Dolls Are Here To Stay!
It all originated when Barbara Handler's mother noticed her daughter playing with dolls and pretending they were adults. At that point in time, all the dolls on the market were baby dolls and Ruth Handler thought a more grown-up doll might inspire children to use their imaginations and start thinking about what they wanted to be when they grew up. She approached executives at the Mattel Toy Company with her idea and they promptly shot it down as an expensive idea with little market appeal. But after a trip to Europe with a prototype that was well received, Mattel decided to launch the Barbie Doll in 1959. Barbie would soon become the most popular of all American girl dolls.
The popularity of the Barbie Doll is still growing today and with more than one billion of these American girl dolls sold, the Barbie doll is one of the most successful American girl dolls ever produced. In fact, Barbie is one of the most successful toys ever manufactured and had become a symbol of female beauty and the most famous of the American girl dolls. Mattel reports that two Barbie dolls are sold every second around the world.
There's no questioning the fact that Barbie has influenced the lives of little girls all over the world, but there is no consensus on whether the influence is good or bad. As you can imagine, the most popular American girl doll has been written about extensively over the years in both a positive and negative light. Barbie critics argue that Barbie represents a manufactured level of physical beauty that most girls will never attain which sets them up for failure. They also argue that Barbie is too sexy and that the clothes Barbie wears are too revealing considering little girls turn into young women who are influenced by Barbie.
Barbie has changed careers, sported thousands of outfits and hairstyles, and gone though many friends and boyfriends over the past five decades. No matter what you think of Barbie's sexuality and changing styles, the most popular American girl doll of all time has definitely influenced little girls and changed the way we look at dolls. According to recent statistics, Barbie dolls rank either first or second among the favorite toys of girls between eight and twelve. Did you know Barbie's full name is Barbie Millicent Roberts? Barbie has transformed the doll world since she first hit the scene in 1959. She has been around the world and had more than 80 careers representing almost 100 unique nationalities. Barbie has sisters and boyfriends too. But much like baseball card collectors who covet the rookie cards of their favorite players, doll collectors most desire the original Barbie doll with her 1950s wardrobe. As a matter of fact, the original Barbie doll is in such high demand that it is one of the most popular collectibles in the world and can fetch as much as $10,000 in mint condition.
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