How Barbie went from poor sales in the 1950s to becoming the most popular doll in the world

Fiona Hanson/PA Images via Getty Images

• Mattel's Barbie has been around for more than 60 years. She's had more than 250 careers and made billions of dollars.
• But it wasn't an easy road. In the 1950s, Ruth Handler, the woman behind Barbie, found it difficult to find support for her idea.
• Critics believed the doll with the impossible figure symbolized objectification and consumerism.

Ruth Handler's idea was to show girls they could be anything they wanted to be. 

In the 1950s, the American businesswoman saw a gap in the toy market. She decided to launch a doll for girls that wasn't a baby, but a woman — with a woman's body, a job, and later, a boyfriend. 

After being warned it was a bad idea and that no one would buy it, Barbie was a huge hit. Mattel, Handler's toy company, went on to make billions of dollars off the doll. 

In the 1970s, Barbie became a symbol that feminists hated for creating unrealistic ideas about bodies, upholding gender stereotypes, and whitewashing ideas about beauty.

But she kept selling and remains the most popular doll in the world. In July, the highly-anticipated "Barbie" movie, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie as the titular character, will be released. 

Here's how Barbie took over the world.

In the 1950s, Ruth Handler, part-owner of a toy company called Mattel, noticed her daughter preferred to play with adult paper dolls instead of her plastic baby dolls.

A girl plays with a baby doll in 1950.

Raymond Kleboe/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The baby dolls were called things like Chatty Cathy, Betsy Wetsy, or Tiny Tears and dominated the toy market at the time.

Sources: New York Times, Jerusalem Post, Entrepreneur, Vice

Handler saw a gap in the market. She realized that "little girls just want to be bigger girls." But during a trip to Switzerland in 1956, she had an idea for how to replace it when she discovered a German sex toy called Bild Lilli.

SSPL/Getty Images

Bild Lili was based on a popular call girl from a comic strip. She was for adults and was sold in bars and sex shops.

But Handler didn't care where Bild Lilli came from. She was inspired. She bought three of the dolls, then hunted for a Japanese manufacturer to create a similar product for the US market.

She decided her doll would have less dramatic curves and lose the heavy make-up and exaggerated lips.

Sources: New York Times, Glamour, Jerusalem Post, Entrepreneur, Indianapolis Monthly, New York Times, Independent, Washington Post

She had to convince Mattel's designers, who argued the intricate clothing and plastic figure would be too expensive, as well as her husband Elliot, who simply doubted anyone would buy it.

Ruth and Elliot Handler holding Barbie dolls in 1987.

Bettmann/Getty Images

Handler's husband said to her: "No mother is ever going to buy her daughter a doll with breasts." But she had a vision.

She said she wanted to create a doll that would let young girls dream about their own future, rather than having to dream about their baby's future.

Referring to the idea of a young girl playing with Barbie, she said, "If she was going to do role-playing of what she would be like when she was 16 or 17, it was a little stupid to play with a doll that had a flat chest. So I gave it beautiful breasts."

Sources: New York Times, Indianapolis Monthly, New York Times, Independent, Forbes

In 1959, the first Barbie — named after her daughter Barbara — debuted at the American Toy Fair in New York. She was wearing stiletto heels and a strapless zebra swimsuit. She was 11.5 inches tall and cost $3.

The original Barbie was launched in 1959.

Yvonne Hemsey/Getty Images

She was young, had blonde hair, and worked as a fashion model. 

But wholesalers, primarily men, weren't keen on stocking Barbie. At least half of them wanted nothing to do with the product, although she did get a few orders. 

One buyer told her, "Ruth, little girls want baby dolls. They want to pretend to be mommies."

Sources: Indianapolis Monthly, New York Times, New York Times, Independent, Forbes, Vice

So Handler turned to a branding expert and psychologist named Ernest Dichter, who analyzed why people bought things. He interviewed 45 mothers and 191 girls. He found mothers hated Barbie and girls loved it.

Ernest Dicther in 1944.

CBS/Getty Images

But one mother eased up on Barbie when she heard her daughter say, "She's so well groomed, mommy!" 

His advice was, along with enlarging the breasts, to promise mothers Barbie would show their daughters how to become a "poised little lady." 

Sources: Forbes, Vice, Vice

Handler took his advice straight to TV. She advertised Barbie on Disney's "The Mickey Mouse Club" in an ad where the dolls looked like real models, symbolizing what girls could grow up to be. It was the first time this kind of ad had been done.

A young girl plays with Barbie dolls in 1963.

AP

The ad ended with a jingle saying, "Someday I'm gonna be exactly like you, 'till then I know just what I'll do, Barbie, beautiful Barbie, I'll make believe that I am you."

Later that summer, after the ad had aired, Barbie became a hit. Mattel couldn't fulfill demand. In the first year alone, it sold 350,000 Barbies.

Sources: Barnebys, Glamour, Morning Call, Vice

As Barbie's popularity grew, Mattel released new dolls, new clothes, and a range of haircuts, including one modeled after First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy after former President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Charlotte Johnson designs clothes for Barbie in 1974.

Tony Korody/Sygma/Sygma/Getty Images

According to Paul Mullins, an anthropology professor at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, the first five years were actually some of Barbie's most progressive years.

She had no Ken to rely on and instead of housework, she was independent, working as a nurse, an American Airlines stewardess, or a ballerina. 

Source: New York Times, Indianapolis Monthly, Morning Call

In 1961, Mattel released the Ken doll — named after Handler's son, Kenneth — after fans begged for Barbie to have a boyfriend. Handler made sure Ken was never the husband and only the boyfriend. His role was to be a sidekick.

A young boy looks confused while a young girl inspects Ken dolls in 1961.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Sources: Indianapolis Monthly, Vice

Even so, during the 1960s, Ken became more dominant. He got a number of different careers including surfer and football player while Barbie became more domestic.

A girl sings beside her Barbie and Ken Doll to a song called “Barbie Sings” in 1961.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Notably, in 1965, Slumber Party Barbie came with a diet book that only had one instruction: "Don't eat." 

Sources: Indianapolis Monthly, Independent, Daily Mail

But Barbie led the way at times, too. In 1965, Barbie the Astronaut was released — four years before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.

A 1965 Miss Astronaut Barbie doll displayed in 2021.

Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images for Barbie: A Cultural Icon Exhibition

Regardless of how Barbie was influencing young girls, she was a phenomenon. By 1968, Mattel had made $500 million in Barbie sales. 

Sources: Independent, USA Today, Glamour

The tide began to change in 1968 when 400 women picketed the beauty pageant Miss America. They were protesting how the pageant perpetuated an obsession with looks, and Barbie got pulled into the fight.

A demonstrator during “No More Miss America” holds a sign saying she is not a toy, pet, or mascot in 1968.

Bev Grant/Getty Images

In the 1970s, feminists lashed out at Barbie for promoting unrealistic ideas about body shapes, upholding outdated gender stereotypes, and whitewashing ideas about beauty.

According to The Conversation, Barbie had everything — "perfect hair, a perfect body, a plethora of outfits, a sexualized physique, and a perfect first love (in the equally perfect Ken)" — and this unattainable perfection was damaging to young girls.

Source: Glamour, Conversation, Yahoo

During a women's strike in New York in 1970, marchers chanted, "I am not a Barbie doll!" Later, in a documentary called "Tiny Shoulders," feminist and activist Gloria Steinem noted, "She was everything we didn't want to be."

American feminist and activist Gloria Steinem speaks at a rally outside the United Nations, New York, New York, 1978.

Bettye Lane/Photo Researchers History/Getty Images

Sources: New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine, Glamour

Barbie's figure was part of the controversy. If she was a real woman, her proportions would translate to 39-21-33. Her BMI would be so low she wouldn't be able to menstruate. Her body could only fit half a liver and a small part of her intestines.

A dentist Barbie on display in 1997. Note the narrow waist.

Jon Levy/AFP/Getty Images

Sources: Forbes, Conversation, Indianapolis Monthly, New York Times 

Some researchers found that a real-life Barbie would be so unbalanced she couldn't stand, while another researcher calculated it was possible for a woman to have the same figure as Barbie, but the chances were less than 1 in 100,000.

A Barbie doll from 1962 is examined in 2017.

Daniel Karmann/Picture Alliance/Getty Images

In response to a complaint in The New York Times in 1963 about Ken's "department store dummy" look, a spokesperson for Mattel said that the dolls had never been designed for education or to be scale models.  

"Rather, they are playthings … we do not feel that it is necessary to actually have these dolls true to life in every detail," the spokesperson said. 

Sources: Independent, New York Times, New York Times

In 1972, Barbie sales fell for the first time. At the time, Mattel released the first Barbie — the 1971 Malibu Barbie — that stared outward rather than gazed down, meaning she went from being an object to a subject.

A Malibu Barbie was displayed in 2002.

Lawrence Lucier/Getty Images

Source: Glamour

Soon, Barbie was appearing in more serious roles. She was a pilot, a surgeon, or a CEO. But other Barbies still came with mini domestic machinery, like washing machines and dryers.

A surgeon Barbie doll on display in 2017.

Eduardo Parra/Getty Images

In 1974, Handel left the company after she was accused of falsifying Mattel's finances. She was later indicted on charges of false reporting and fraud and pleaded no contest. 

Sources: New York Times, Indianapolis Monthly, Glamour, Independent, Smithsonian Magazine, New York Times

Even without Handel at the helm, Mattel tried to diversify. In 1980, the company released the first Black Barbie. Her tagline was "She's Black! She's beautiful! She's dynamite!"

A range of Barbie dolls was shown in 1997.

Don Bartletti/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

Mattel had previously released a Black doll called Christie in the late sixties, but it wasn't under the Barbie name. 

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, sales held while criticisms about Barbie and her impact on girls rose and fell. 

Sources: New York Times, Indianapolis Monthly, Glamour, Independent, Smithsonian Magazine

In 1989 alone, 22 million Barbies were sold globally. By the 1990s, Barbie dolls appeared to be everywhere.

Ruth Handler is kissed by actress Kristi Cooke who is dressed as a Barbie Doll during the 35-year anniversary of the doll in New York City in 1994.

Robert Clark/AP

They had been on the market long enough to become collectors' pieces. There were also limited-edition releases.

Source: Morning Call, USA Today

By 2009, more than 1 billion Barbies had been sold worldwide. Nine out of 10 American girls owned a Barbie.

An aisle dominated by Barbie dolls in Germany in 1999.

Joko/ullstein bild/Getty Images

Sources: Indianapolis Monthly, Glamour 

But market saturation brought its own issues. Barbies weren't the only option anymore. Barbie had to compete against new dolls like Bratz or Disney Princess dolls.

A girl plays with her Bratz dolls in 2004.

Graeme Robertson/Getty Images

This showed in Mattel's sales, which dropped by 20% between 2012 and 2014. In 2014, a newspaper headline in the UK asked, "Is Barbie dead?"

Sources: Indianapolis Monthly, Yahoo, Independent, El Pais

In response, Mattel launched more diverse Barbies, and in 2016, it launched a range of Barbies with different body sizes, called "tall," "petite," and "curvy." It's worth noting the curvy Barbie is still fairly slim, coming in at about a size 4.

A “curvy” Barbie, by Mattel, is shown at Toy Fair in New York.

Mark Lennihan/AP

Sources: Independent, Vice, Indianapolis Monthly

It also launched Barbies based on real people like film director Ava DuVernay, volleyball player Hui Ruoqi, and boxing champion Nicola Adams.

Selma actor Carmen Ejogo admires the Barbie doll version of her director Ava DuVernay.

Diane Bondareff/Invision for Barbie/AP

Sources: Independent, Vice, Indianapolis Monthly

Barbies now come in 35 different skin tones with 94 hairstyles. There are gender-neutral Barbies, sign language Barbies, and Barbies that use a wheelchair.

A display of diverse Barbies in 2023.

Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images for Barbie: A Cultural Icon Exhibition

In 2019, Mattel's top-selling Barbie was Black and had a short afro.

The diversification has appeared to work. In 2021, Mattel sold 86 million dolls from the Barbie family, which equates to 164 dolls being bought every minute. 

In gross revenue, that's $1.679 billion. For comparison, up until 2009, Barbie had made $3 billion off Barbie sales altogether, according to Forbes.

Sources: Indianapolis Monthly, Smithsonian Magazine, CNN, Telegraph, El Pais, Forbes

In 2016, Kim Culmone, Barbie's vice president of design, told The Telegraph, "When you say 'Barbie' to someone, a very clear image of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, slim doll comes to mind. In a few years, this will no longer be the case."

A Marilyn Monroe Barbie in 1997.

Scanpix/AFP/Getty Images

Sources: Telegraph, El Pais, Forbes

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