Barbie Millicent Roberts, now more famous as Barbie, is a household name. Little girls have admired and respected her as a role model since her debut, begging their parents to buy every new model that hit store shelves. “I designed Barbie with a blank face so that children could project their dreams of the future onto Barbie,” Handler said of Barbie's creation. When Ruth Handler decided to create it, she just wanted children to have fun. She would have no idea the impression Barbie would make on children and adults. This Barbie impression was great and controversial. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The idea for Barbie began with Ruth Handler's daughter. Her daughter Barbara loved playing with adult paper dolls that had changing outfits. By this time, Handler had noticed that playing pretend about the future was an important part of growing up for young children, because when Barbara and her friends played with paper dolls, they were imitating an adult's life and conversations. She also noticed that although there were other paper dolls being portrayed around the age of Barbara and her friend, they were all still attracted to the adult paper dolls. During a family trip to Switzerland, she came across adult dolls and noticed that each one was wearing different ski clothes. He noticed how the dolls and clothes could not be purchased separately and realized the importance of the fact that the doll he wanted to create had to have the ability to purchase clothes separately from the doll. Inspired by her journey, she went to mega toy company Mattel. Initially, Mattel didn't think it was possible to create the fashionable doll Handler had envisioned at an affordable price. They were also worried about the possible reaction they would face from parents who would find such an adult doll offensive. Strong and determined, she eventually convinced Mattel to create a prototype and they marketed the new doll as the Barbie Teenage Fashion Model. “I wouldn't walk around the house like that. I don't like that influence on my little girl. If only they would let children stay little longer... It's hard enough to raise a woman nowadays without excessive moral pressure,” says a worried mother when Barbie first debuts in 1959 at the World's Fair of the Toy. Wearing a ponytail hairstyle, peep-toe high-heeled shoes, a black and white zebra-print swimsuit along with sunglasses and earrings, the parents were not impressed. At the start of the show, a Mattel representative said: “We were so excited by Ruth's enthusiasm that we believed it. The doll was radically different, but Ruth's logic made sense to us. We thought kids who liked paper dolls would like it.” Ruth was confident that she would be able to change the minds of people who didn't approve of Barbie, but as more and more people at the fair began to see the doll, past concerns about how people would react began to materialize. Barbie's mature body shocked most parents. They were used to seeing their children playing with little dolls. They were used to seeing dolls like Chatty Cathy and Betsy Wetsy making up the vast majority of toys sold to girls (Wolf 3). In the post-war 1950s, little girls were taught that all they should focus on was marriage and motherhood, which is exactly what these dolls were forwere designed to teach them. Having a doll so far from the realm of “normal” was exactly what Handler wanted. Although there had been previous fashion dolls featuring adult figures such as Miss Revlon on the market, they were marketed towards adults. Barbie, on the other hand, was marketed towards America's young, vulnerable children. Despite the outrage, Mattel eHandler knew these children would love Barbie and continued trying to sell the doll. Mattel knew they should stop trying to get moms' attention with the doll and start focusing on children as new customers. They began marketing Barbie as the quintessential suburban lifestyle at the time, with numerous luxury items that Barbie emulated by always having tons of new cars, accessories, and clothes. Additionally, since television was relatively new in the 1950s, Mattel featured Barbie in many shows such as the Mickey Mouse Club and in various commercials. In Barbie's first year on the market, 351,000 dolls were sold at a price of $3 a piece. With such success, Mattel realized how much influence the children in the family have when making purchasing decisions and continued to market Barbie directly to them. Barbie no longer has the original look she wore at the 1959 International Toy Fair. In the culture of the 1950s, Barbie reflected many things that people needed to reflect. An outstanding aspect was his body. With her long legs, long arms, small waist and shapely chest, she represented how little girls thought they should look when they got older. Although there was controversy when it first debuted, today the controversy is at an all-time high. The main problem concerns body image. Considered a role model for many girls, parents are worried that her body appearance could have a negative effect on their children's body image when in today's society everyone wants to have that "perfect" body which for many is unattainable. Many people say that Barbie's proportions as a real human are too unrealistic and require a change in Barbie's body appearance. Standing at full size, she would stand at a striking 7 feet 6 inches tall, have a 28-inch waist and 40-inch hips. If these proportions were applied to a 5'6 tall model, her waist would be 20 inches, with 29 inch hips and a 27 inch bust. The probability of a woman having Barbie's body is 1 in 100,000. However, when the proportions of Barbie's counterpart, Ken, are used compared to men, the odds are much more likely than 1 in 50. Today there is intense pressure on young girls to look a certain way and body about Barbie, but not about Barbie herself. , it can end up doing more harm than good. Slayen, a former Lincoln High School student who dealt with a bout of anorexia a year ago, knows this all too well. Slayen does not blame Barbie for her illness, but acknowledges that she contributed an environmental factor to it. A Mattel representative responded to Slayen's comments by saying, “As a pop culture icon, Barbie is often used as art to express her personal opinions and viewpoints. Girls today see images of the female body everywhere, and it's critical that parents and caregivers provide perspective on what they see. It's important to remember that Barbie is a doll that stands 11.5 inches tall and weighs 7.25 ounces - she was never modeled after the proportions of a real person. Although Barbie has been held responsible for promoting many eating disorders, there are still advocates who.