Barbie dolls have been the ultimate favorite of almost all the women that we know around the world. The millennials grew up playing with these beautiful, independent fashion icons who could be anything they wanted to be!
For the last 60 years, Barbie dolls have dominated the toy market. They are still very popular among young girls. This success is largely dedicated to the efforts that the creators put in for building a Barbie lifestyle. Adding in the pretty details that has inspired the young ladies for so many years.
In 1959, the co-founder of Mettel, Ruth Handler, wanted to create a doll for her daughter Barbara. And he accidently created a phenomenon that became a fashion icon. It is one of the highest grossing toy brands in the market. The little girls were in love with the miniature versions of beautiful. Also independent young women who were everything they ever wanted to be when they grew up. Moreover, you could change the clothes of this doll!!
For a doll that was created after Handler took the inspiration from a German doll Lilli, the Barbie was doing pretty good in the toy sphere and is among favourite Toys for Kids till now. The company earned millions of dollars in the first few years of Barbie and ultimately created a Barbie world that had everything that a little girl needs to live her dream life! Who knew that a doll would become the icon of fashion, women empowerment and girl power for more than 60 years!!
Here are a few reasons that keep the Barbie dolls trending among the girls and doll collectors even in 2021!
All the Girls Still Want to Be a Barbie!
There are various reasons that have contributed to the worldwide success of barbie dolls for so many years. Especially during this Covid-19 pandemic, we have noticed a marked surge in the overall sales of the barbie dolls last year. It seems that the people are reverting back to the old school methods of keeping their children entertained at homes. But what keeps them coming back to these barbie dolls?
Barbie Dolls were originally created to destigmatize the societal norms that depicted women as homemakers and nurturing mothers. These dolls were bold, independent, career oriented and fashionable. Barbie was a doctor, a pilot, an astronaut, and everything that the little girls in the 1950’s aspired to be when they grew up.
When the Barbie dolls first came into the market, the world went crazy. The girls absolutely loved these miniature versions of women that they could dress up and play with. They were inspired and felt attached to their dolls which resulted in billion-dollar sales each year for more than 6 decades!
We All Love a Black Barbie!
A few years back, Barbie dolls received a great deal of backlash especially from the second-generation feminists who demonstrated that the unrealistic body structure and white features create a negative impact on the minds of the young girls. Fairly so many young girls suffered from body image issues and low self-esteem during the early 2000’s and the barbie dolls might have played a pivotal role in that!
However, the creators understood the fact that these Barbie dolls must depict the current societal and cultural values and beauty norms in order to stay trendy and popular among the little ladies.
The new diverse collection of the Barbie dolls has been the perfect way to introduce the ethnic diversity and realistic beauty standards that produce body positivity and self-love among the girls from all ethnicities and cultural backgrounds. This has proved to be a major step in keeping the barbie dolls trending and people’s favorite during the current times.
The newly introduced African American and Latina barbies are not only pretty cool but gorgeous as well. Not to forget the five different body types introduced by the Mattel that empower the young ladies to stay unique and original!
Living a Barbie Life? You Got Us!
The fact that we all wanted to live the kind of life Barbie had is undeniable. The meticulously curated world of Barbie as everything that we desired as the little girls. She had her own hot pink car, pets, jewelers, dream home, a bright career, and a closet full of pretty clothes! Kids love to have a barbie with its Castle Building Set For Kids. What else do we want!?
The creators of the Barbie at Mattel know perfectly well how to keep the dolls thriving and trending all these years. A standalone Barbie doll might not have sustained all these years. But the glamorous world of Barbie that is all about fashion and glory is perfect for all the girls who needed a slightly modern take on their favorite classic Disney princess fairy tales that they all loved a lot.
The girls wanted the dolls, their houses, their clothes, accessories, even Barbie’s on and off boyfriend, the Ken doll, that was introduced later in 1961. The perfect world of Barbie is the one reason why these dolls are still the hot favorite of many little ladies even after 60 years of its creation.
The Future of Barbie Looks Bright and Shining!
A few years ago, we might not have been very keen to discuss the future of the blondie fashionistas that were once the icon of girl power back in the late 1900’s and early 2000’s. Nobody wanted to talk about the whitewashed, unreal Barbie dolls that were negatively impacting the young ladies to look petite, white and blond in order to become more beautiful. These unhealthy notions were problematic and toxic for the young minds and repelled the women who wanted their daughters to be stronger, independent, and empowered.
The creators of the Barbie at Mettel noticed an undeniable decrease in the sales during the last decade. They were quick to realize the problem behind. This led to the introduction of the brand-new Diverse collection of the Barbie dolls that represented women of color and ethnic diversity. For the first time in history, the Barbie dolls came with a prosthetic limb, on a wheelchair and other forms of disabilities. This is to help empower the young ladies with different forms of disabilities.
Different types of Barbie toys available
You can now get a barbie doll with 5 different body types, 96 hairstyles and hair colors and 13 eye colors! We think that is super cool and quite an impressive step that might bring amazing successes down the road. In fact, the company saw an incredible surge in sales last year after the introduction of this new collection. The revenue generated has crossed 5 times of what was being generated during the last 4 or 5 years.
With such an incredible success, we believe that the Barbie doll might stay a little longer in the toy sphere than what was expected all thanks to the brand new reinventive measures that were taken by the company at the most crucial time!
To add on to the last note, we are glad that Barbie is here to stay a little longer. The amazing strong ladies of today grew up playing with the Barbie. We do not want our favorite dolls to eat dust. We want them to be glamorous and inspiring for all the young girls out there!
