It’s that anatomically perfect, American icon’s 50th birthday today, and in honor of it, we’ve decided to dig up a few crazy facts (from Barbie’s official website) about the 11.5 inch-tall, 7.25-ounce doll to remind all of you out there just what kind of an impact Barbie has had on pop culture since her birth on March 9, 1959 at the International Toy Fair in New York:
• During her first year in stores, about 300,000 Barbies were sold at $3 a pop.
• The average price it would cost you to get one of those original dolls in good condition today: $27,450.
• Three Barbies are sold somewhere every second (and sales total around $1.5 billion a year). So just in the time it took you to read this sentence, about nine dolls were sent on their way home from the toy store.
• The best selling model ever? 1992’s Totally Hair Barbie. Yes, as in the one sporting a Pucci-inspired mini-dress, hot pink stilettos, and hair flowing all the way down to her ankles. (I’ll admit it — I owned one! Only I’m the moron who cut her hair, thus negating her purpose in the first place.)
• In her 50 years, Barbie has tried out more than 108 different careers. Among my favorites: pet doctor, Miss America, and Rock Star.
• The toy has represented 50 nationalities thus far. That’s more than most TV networks can say.
Due to the fact that its used somewhere around 105 million yards of fabric to outfit Barbie, Mattel is considered one of the largest apparel manufacturers in the world.
• Barbie, it seems, spends more time at the "salon," than most females do: her hair is made up of seven shades of blonde, weaved together to get that token golden look.
• Ninety percent of little girls in the U.S. (ages 3 to 10) own at least one Barbie.
Still, being a fan of the doll herself isn’t limited by age: There are about 8 million Barbie collectors in the world today.
Basically, Blondie has ingrained a giant place in history for herself, and her popularity seems to be continuing to grow (there apparently are 1,000 YouTube channels dedicated to the girl. Who knew??). PopWatchers, do you hold a special place in your heart for Barbie as well? Or are you surprised at all of the above numbers because she’s, well, just a freaking doll?
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Happy Birthday Barbie! i’m past the play-with-Barbies age, but i still have my collector’s editions, in the box, and so does my older sister. we still have our regular old ones, too, packed up in boxes. we have TONS, my dad was big on Barbies for us when we were growing up. and now he can go nuts with our niece, his first grand-daughter.
I love you Barbie!!! I still have some collectables in the attic (original packaging). Mostly the Christmas Barbies from the ’90s. I also cut Totally Hair Barbie’s hair into a cute little bob. I always cut Barbie’s hair. I would also take it a step further and color her hair with nail polish. Funky highlights. I also had a skin head Barbie who I called “Sinead O’connor Barbie”. I was a strange child. My favorite part of babysitting in college was playing Barbies with the kids. Bratz suck!
I, too, cut off most of Totally Hair Barbie’s hair-although I must say her shoulder length ‘do was rather fetching.
My favorite Barbie, though, was the Pizza Hut Barbie. She had a cute little server’s uniform and it came with tiny little Personal Pan pizzas and Coke glasses… Wish I still had that one.
Um what about KEN??? As a lil boy i was obsessed with him and always was jelous of his flat stomach!!! He was so cute!!!
Happy Birthday Barbie! I have tons still in the box and tons I played with. My favorites are the “Dolls of the World” collection. I have everything from Puerto Rico to Ghana. I love them. I had such great times playing with them as a child and even teen. Heck, I still enjoy brushing their hair and playing Barbie’s with my daughter.
I just wonder how many young girls became anorexic or bulimic or severely depressed because they didn’t look like the perfect “Barbie.” I was 13 when they first came out, and had I been an adult parent, I don’t think I would have bought one for my daughter. I would have preferred she aspired to be a lawyer or doctor than a fashion model. Yuck!
Barbie was “inspired” by doll named “Bild Lili,” which was based on a a post-WWII German comic strip that appeared in Bild-Zeitung.
Moe information can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild_Lilli_doll
Thanks Barbie! You have achieved what no woman in history was able to do. You Help turn millions and millions of young innocent girls into little slut like clones of yourself. Keep up the good work.
Dominatrix Barbie and slave Ken – WHEN ARE WE GOING TO SEE THAT???
Why must the media and public point to everything else in the world as a problem. It’s the parents job to screen their child’s life. If you don’t want your daughter to be bulimic or anorexic teacher her to have self esteem, self worth, and a postie body image. I know that might be hard for those parents that are to involved in their own lives to care about their children. Had Barbi dolls as a child and I am not bulimic, or anorexic. So I say Happy Birthday Barbi!!! Here’s to another 50 years!
Refresh my memory. Was there a doll named Stacey, who was a British friend of Barbie? Or one named P.J.?
I also cut the hair off of Totally Hair Barbie. Only it was my sister’s Barbie. To this day, I’m still not sure if she’s forgiven me.
Barbie is 50 years old, congratulaions. I guess it pays to go plastic!! The only thing I do not understand is Barbie could be anyone she chooses, so now, why the freak’n tatoo’s? Is it that important that we help turn the next generation of woman into freaks? Why not just leave the tatoo’s for Ken and be done with it? Why can’t the woman of our society just be woman? Not Sailors.
Hard to believe that we have more idiots at the top of the Barbie food chain than at the bottom of the food chain.
A funny list of some of the less popular Barbies from over the years…
http://www.poopreading.com/2009/03/least_popular_versions_of_the_barbie_doll/
Lisa–Stacey was Barbie’s little sister who came out around 1990. She was younger than Skipper. Barbie also had a baby sister named Kelly, but in my Barbie universe Stacey and Kelly were her secret love children. I thought it was kind of ridiculous for a doll in her 30s to keep having younger siblings.
Barbie is 50. Will she join AARP?
See
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/barbies-big-birthday/
i highly doubt any girls looked at their Barbie dolls and all of a sudden developed an eating disorder. that theory is very simplistic and ignorant. it takes more than a female-shaped piece of plastic to cause that kind of emotional and physical problem. and Barbie HAS been a lawyer, a doctor, and had just about every other profession there is. and BRONWYN, those comments are just completely off-base, not to mention offensive to anyone with tattoos.
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Paris Hilton as the new Barbie??
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-227174
renegade-reporting.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/stephenseidel
I have one of the original 1959 Barbie Dolls. She is in very good condition and so is the box she came in. I would be interested in selling her. Contact me at Rodlexi@gmail.com
In real life, Barbie turns 50 and loses her dream house to foreclosure: http://www.mom2momkc.com/?a=profile&u=67&t=blog&blog_id=1979
Lisa, yes, Stacey was Barbie’s British friend from the late 1960’s, and PJ was also a friend. She looked an awful lot like Midge, who disappeared in the mid-60’s.
I don’t know of any Barbie that would fetch $25K these days. $10K for one in excellent condition, maybe, but not a whole lot more than that.
Did you see them at the Barbie Turns 50 New York Fashion Show? Those great rhinestone encrusted cateye sunglasses, pink daisy cat eye sunglasses , brass cat ear sunglasses and extravagant
jewelled cat woman eye jewellery on Barbie on runway with Vera Wang, Nanette Lepore, Tracy Reese, Marchesa and more were
designed and handmade by Sunglasses by
Mercura NYC and chosen for the Barbie Runway 50th anniversary show.
My sister and I are very pleased. We have
constructed thousands of one of a kind frames. see our blog and Facebook.
Sincerely,
Merrilee Lichtenstein Cohen & Rachel Cohen-Lunning
PS NIMA, the hottest new designer, is also showing MERCURA NYC on runway in New York and Tokyo