Barbie:Impact on

Young Girls

Charlotte Kimmel, Ph.D.

MY STORY: Disclaimer

❖I do not own stock in Mattel & am not a designer or any

person who would benefit from Barbie or Mattel doing

well

❖Barbie Collector Clubs: member of the Dallas Barbie

Collectors Club

❖Barbie Collector Conventions: 2 national conventions

❖My childhood Barbie story

History of Barbie

– Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy company Mattel, Inc.

– Launched in March 9, 1959 at the New York Toy Fair

– American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli (an adult gag gift) as her inspiration.

– Her husband Elliot and his business partner Matt Matson formed a company called Mattel (combining “Matt” & “Elliot”)

– Ruth was the driving force behind the formation of the company

Ruth Handler

▪ Born into a Jewish Polish family 11/04/1916 in Denver Colorado

▪ Her parents had immigrated to the United States

▪ Youngest of 10 children and raised by her oldest sister

▪ She worked in her parents drugstore and learned about business practices

▪ She was an entrepreneur, inventor, and businesswoman –executive ahead of her time.

▪ Her husband went to art school and he was a designer of furniture, gift-wear, costume jewelry and eventually toys. Ruth marketed these items

Why Ruth Invented Barbie

❖She watched her young daughter play & noticed she was not interested in playing with baby dolls & preferred adult paper dolls – pretending to be them

❖Paper dolls were difficult for little hands and the tabbed clothing did not stay on the doll

❖Ruth wanted a doll that girls could use to project their own future adult dreams: a dimensional doll

❖She pitched the idea of an adult doll to Mattel’s executives but they were resistant

Bild Lilly Doll– Based on a German cartoon

character

– Popular, curvy

– Classy, sassy, fashionable

– 11.5 inches tall

– Doll stand

– Painted face & side glancing eyes

– Gag gift for adults

Names for the dolls

Barbie– Barbie was named after

Ruth’s daughter: Barbara

– The daughter wanted her

mother to be a stay at home

Mom.

– She did not like having a doll

named after her.

Ken– Ken was named after Ruth’s

son: Ken

– He had difficulty dealing

with having a doll named

after him.

Barbie: Barbara Millicent Roberts

• Hometown: Willows, Wisconsin

• Parents: George & Margaret

• Teenage Fashion Model: born as blonde or

brunette

• Other family members: Skipper, Tutti, Todd,

Stacie, Kelly, Krissy

• Cousins: Francie & Jazzie

• Best friend: Midge

Barbie Careers

❖Careers: over 180 careers

❖Astronaut in 1965

❖Presidential run in 1992: all

female ticket in 2016: she

has run 6 times

Ken

▪ Ken Carson: no middle name

▪ Introduced in 1961 – requests from Barbie fans

▪ 40 occupations

▪ *Is Beach Bum a career? also Tourist, Escort, and Prince

▪ 3 body types, 7 skin colors, 9 hair types

▪ Barbie and Ken broke up in 2004 and she dated Blaine, The Aussie

▪ Ken & Barbie got back together in 2011 for the 50th

anniversary

Initial Marketing

➢Barbie sold 351,000 the first year

➢The Handlers in 1955 had bought exclusive sponsorship

of a new ABC television show: The Mickey Mouse Club

➢ Increased Mattel sales of their Burp Gun &

Mouseguitar (also Ukulele: Uke-A-Doodle)

➢Helped with Barbie sales

Current Marketing

➢Now over a billion dolls in 150 countries: 3 dolls

sold every second

➢99% of girls in the US between 3-10 own a

Barbie

➢Girls 3-6 own an average of 12 Barbies

Objections to Barbie

❑Her Figure

* Dimensions: if translated to a 5’ 6” woman = 39-21-33 or

38-18-28 at 110 lbs

* 2016: Introduced tall, curvy, and petite body types

❑Lack of diversity:

* 1st African American Doll 1968 Christie – Barbie could wear flats

* Now has many skin tones & hairstyles

❑Initially mothers objected & then feminists

Controversial Barbie

❖ "I don't know any other toy that has generated so much discussion and so much passion and so much, usually, ambivalence," author Peggy Orenstein, who's written

extensively about issues affecting girls.

❖ Barbie — ever famous, often infamous — has been analyzed, politicized and demonized. She has inspired art, along with powerful emotions.

No outcry about Ken➢Lack of careers

➢Freeloads on Barbie?

➢His physique

➢Supportive of Barbie?

➢Does anyone really care?

Barbie Accomplishments

❖Represented more than 40 nationalities

❖Smithsonian

❖Louvre exhibit

❖Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame

❖Top Designers have dressed her

Experimental

Studies

Results

Body Image Study of 5-8 yr old girls

Developmental Psychology, 2006, Great Britain. Vol 42

• 162 girls in Great Britain were exposed to Barbie images, no images, or Emme Dolls (US size 16) in 2006

• 3 conditions using picture books of Barbie, Emme, or neutral pictures (6 pages) for about 15 min

➢Results:

*Body dissatisfaction was higher after seeing Barbie images

*No difference in body dissatisfaction reported after exposure

to Emme or neutral images

Results:

*Body dissatisfaction was higher after seeing Barbie images

*No difference in body dissatisfaction reported after exposure to

Emme or neutral images

*Barbie exposure had a detrimental impact on the younger groups

age 5.5 to 7.5

*No detrimental effect on the older girls ages 7.5 to 8.5

*The most effect was experienced by girls 5.5 to 6.5 with significantly

depressed body esteem and girls wanting to be thinner

Ken & Barbie at Life Size

➢Study in the Journal Sex Roles, 1996

➢Scaled the dolls to an adult height to determine the

dimensions that these dolls would have at this adjusted

size using anthropometry and the rules of allometry

➢Compared the doll sizes to adult Anglo –Australian

males and females

ResultsSex Roles, 1996, Vol 34

▪ Ken is within normal limits when compared to the average Aussie

male

▪ Barbie has deviations from the mean in the following areas:

* neck, wrist, waist, hips and the waist-hip ratio, chest

waist ratio

* the chest-waist ratio was the most extreme measure and

was almost entirely due to her small waist

* she did not have a large chest measurement

Changes in Barbie Play

▪ Average age of girls playing with Barbie now: less than 7

▪ Average age initially: approximately 6-12 yrs of age

▪ Average number of dolls per child: ages 3-6 own 12 dolls

▪ Boys playing with dolls? Marketing to boys

▪ Collectors: any age

3 Possible Impacts for girls

➢Body image: the need to be thin

➢Career Limitations

➢Focus on material items: clothing / make up

IMPACT FROM

OTHER SOURCES

➢What has the most impact on children?

➢Is it really an impact by Barbie?

➢Is the child using Barbie to parrot what has been learned from parents? Then Barbie gets blamed.

➢What about other media? Magazines, TV, movies, internet, etc.

Uses in Therapy

▪ Use Barbie, Barbie, & Ken or any of the many Barbie sisters and friends

▪ Use the Heart Family - Use Barbie’s Grandparents

▪ Watch how the children use the doll: what are the interactions?

▪ Provide career choices, what career does the child use for Barbie or Ken? Does this follow roles of adults in their life or is it the opposite?

▪ Is their violence? What are the dolls saying to each other?

▪ Does the child need props or can they just use their imagination?

Barbie Abuse??

▪ Limbs, beheading – purposeful or not?

▪ Cut her hair, pull her hair out, burn her clothes

▪ Use body parts for jewelry including faces

▪ Arm and leg necklaces & bracelets

▪ Rebodied and reheaded

Reference Books

about Barbie

Gerber, R. (2009). Barbie and Ruth. New York: Harper Collins.

Handler, R. (1994). Dream doll, the Ruth Handler Story. Stamford,

CN: Longmeadow Press.

Lord, M.G. (1994). Forever Barbie: The unauthorized biography of a

real doll. New York: William Marrow.