Created by Jack Ryan and manufactured by Mattel, this one doll is a $1.9 million dollar a year industry, with two Barbies being bought every second. Barbie Millicent Roberts, a student of Willows High School in Willows, Wisconsin and her permanent beau Ken, are the supreme images in Westerners minds of what a doll is, and what a toy is.
Throughout the years, her family and friends expanded. Additions to the family tree included Skipper[?] (debut 1964), Tutti[?], Stacie[?] (1992), and Kelly[?] (1995). Barbie has dated Ken since 1961, and has long broken ties with her best friend Midge.
Barbie has been used in an effort to promote gender equality[?], showing that women can work at anything. Career woman Barbie has taken up many occupations over the years, they include:
Barbie has thirty-eight recorded pets, including cats and dogs, horses, a panda, a lion cub, and a zebra. Barbie has used her driver's license to the fullest, with pink convertables, trailers and more. She also has a pilot's license[?], and operates commercial airliners, while not serving as a stewardess.
The best selling Barbie was one released in the early-1990s, Totally Hair Barbie[?], with stylable hair for head to toes.
One of the most publicized changes happened around the turn of the century, as Barbie's ultra-thin waist widened to more natural proportions. This change, rallied for for years by some parents' and Anorexia groups, is to encourage young girls not to be as hyper-actively concerned with their weight, and thus to eat more healthily and avoid eating disorders.
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump