‘You Can Be Anything!’: How Barbie Has Inspired Girls Since 1959

By Manini Manushi Gangal

Barbie’s popularity demonstrates the importance of providing young children with multi-faceted ideas of the experience of adulthood, independence and autonomy.

Barbie’s launch in 1959 was inspired by the creator’s daughter, Barbara Handler, playing with paper dolls and imitating adult roles. This subverted the traditional approach of acting out a parenting or caretaking role, as was the expectation for young girls at the time. Before her launch, Mattel Inc and market analysts did not expect Barbie to perform well, due to preconceptions about contemporary consumer preferences and assumptions that her adult appearance would not be engaging for young girls. However, in Barbie’s first year, she entirely surpassed market expectations and sold over 350,000 units.

Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie.

Beyond the surface level, Barbie’s overall message and ideology transcends economic lessons. Instead, it can demonstrate the importance of providing safe manifestations of agency to young children, supporting them through their hopes and dreams and encouraging the process of ‘becoming’.

Barbie’s identity has shifted and now contributes to conversations about femininity, gender and culture. Greta Gerwig, the director of the 2023 ‘Barbie’, explained that the universality of Barbie since 1959 motivated her to direct the film: ‘everyone has an associated memory with Barbie; whether they feel ambivalent or indifferent about her, they still remember her’.  Therefore, perhaps Barbie’s importance lies in her ever-present impact on cultural discourse and the media. 

A promotional photo for Barbie (2023).

However, the product can be even better understood as a product of shifting times and a mirror of social change. Barbie has been criticised for being a vapid and monotonous demonstration of Western beauty standards, contributing to the imposition of whiteness upon a culturally diverse and impressionable young audience.  When Mattel saw sales fall in 2014, they responded to protect their profits by diversifying Barbie’s body type.

Since then, they have continued to respond to consumer demands through launches such as Barbie in a wheelchair, and a special Barbie modelled after trans-icon Laverne Cox. Ahmed et al posit that the product’s interaction with shifting consumer profiles demonstrates that Mattel aims for Barbie to retain relevance by using development as innovation, with changes to her appearance and marketing over the years reflecting political, social, and economic trends.

As she is currently, Barbie’s marketing appeal lies in her status as a blank slate; she assumes the personality, demeanour, attire, and aspirations of her consumer in a way that should allow for self-realisation and discovery. By imposing few expectations on the children who play with her, both the toy and child are encouraged to ‘be anything’.

Barbie remains in a constant state of ‘becoming’; the expectation of a ‘final form’ never imposed on her.  Scholars such as Spaid invoke the work of Simone de Beauvoir in considering Barbie’s identity: ‘One is not born, but becomes, woman.’  Barbie’s identity is not inherent, but rather she ‘becomes’ who she is through exploration.

Some of Barbie’s STEM careers (credit: Mattel, 2018)

Placing this choice and opportunity in front of young children might allow for them to ‘become’ as Barbie does. Through Barbie’s constant development, she becomes an icon of self-discovery and personhood – when a child imagines a life for Barbie, she imagines a life for herself and realises that her identity is shaped by her own choices and preferences, as well as the world around her.

Such a profound impact could not have happened without the birth of Barbie at the American International Toy Fair, 66 years ago. It is undoubtable that generations of children have been inspired by her, and if she continues to adapt to consumer demands, then she will continue to do so for many years to come.

Edited by Scarlett Bantin