Barbie, which has been a popular toy for over six decades, was created by Ruth Handler in 1959.
Handler, along with her husband and business partner, noticed a gap in the market for toys that empowered little girls to dream and aspire beyond just playing the role of caregivers. Inspired by her daughter Barbara projecting her aspirations onto paper dolls, Handler wanted to create a toy that would allow girls to be anything they wanted to be.
The philosophy behind Barbie was to provide little girls with choices and opportunities to imagine different possibilities for themselves. Handler, who co-founded Mattel in 1945, launched the first Barbie doll in 1959, and it quickly became a bestseller. Even after six decades, Barbie continues to be one of the most popular toys on the market, with Mattel selling 164 Barbie dolls per minute in 2021.
Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie, was not only an entrepreneur but also a pioneer in the toy industry. Aside from her work with Barbie, she also led a company that produced breast prosthetics. After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1970 and being dissatisfied with the available prosthetics on the market, Handler designed her own line of realistic breast prosthetics called Nearly Me.
Handler passed away in 2002 at the age of 85 due to complications from colon cancer surgery. Mattel, the company she co-founded, continues to own Barbie and has seen record-high annual sales from the doll, making $1.7 billion in 2021 alone. The success of Barbie has led Mattel to expand its toy-based movies, with plans to develop 45 more films based on its popular toy brands.
