JAKARTA – One of the historical events that most affected the world on March 9 was the appearance of the Barbie doll. The blonde haired girl with a height of about 28 cm was first launched on March 9, 1959, and went on sale in toy stores in the United States.
Barbie was created by Ruth Handler, a businesswoman who was then President of Mattel Incorporated, a toy company founded in El Segundo, California in January 1945. The first Barbie doll figure was named Barbara Millicent Roberts.
Handler and her husband, Elliot, created Barbie inspired by their daughter. At that time, the princess was playing with a paper doll that she had made herself, with clothes she had also made herself, with the model of a Caucasian woman.
Handler's business instincts then lit up brightly. The woman who was born in Denver, Colorado on November 4, 1916 and died in Los Angeles, California on April 27, 2002, realized that there was an empty space in the toy market. A toy that provokes a girl's imagination to imagine her as an adult.
Handler combined her daughter's doll with a doll figure she saw during a visit to West Germany, the Bild Lili Doll, which connotes a sex doll. Handler bought it, then began to be creative to perfect the West German doll so that it no longer had a negative connotation.
“My philosophy for Barbie is that a little girl can imagine being anything in her life as an adult. Barbie has always represented the fact that women always have choices," Handler said in her autobiography Dream Doll: The Ruth Handler Stories, published in 1994.
Barbie FamilyAfter going through struggles and massive promotions, Barbie dolls achieved great success in sales. Various Barbie models are sold to more than 150 countries in the world. Mattel Inc. with Barbienya is the first toy company in the world that dares to directly target children as their advertising targets.
Seeing the huge market demand, Handler then made a Barbie pair, a male doll figure named Ken. The name was given to Handler after his son's name. Ken was first launched in 1961.
After Ken, Handler is increasingly creating the Barbie family. From Midge in 1963, Skipper in 1964, and so on. For decades, Barbie has recorded extraordinary sales, but also controversy.
From the positive side, Barbie opens the world's eyes that the ancient view of women's social position can actually be broken. From the beginning, the assumption that you are a woman is a homebody, you can turn into professionals only through a doll.
There are so many professions that can be embedded in a Barbie doll. Starting from nurses, flight attendants, doctors, pilots, soldiers, athletes, astronauts, to candidates for President of the United States.
Tax Fraud CaseBehind Barbie's success story, Handler also went through a phase of downfall when she and several Mattel Inc. officials. was indicted on charges of tax fraud and false reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Handler and his cronies did this to boost Mattel's value on the stock market.
Handler and his accomplices did not deny the charges. They were eventually sentenced to fines, imprisonment, and social work. After his sentence, Handler left Mattel Inc. However, this persistent woman returned to starting a business that was not far from her understanding of the role of women.
The Polish-blooded woman with the birth name Ruth Mosko made an artificial breast business. The effort is aimed at breast cancer sufferers who undergo a mastectomy, or breast removal surgery.
Handler, who in 1970 was found to have breast cancer and had undergone a mastectomy, then created an artificial breast made of silicone and foam. The artificial breast was also given a name, namely Nearly Me.
Such is the success story of Ruth Handler and her Barbie doll, who were able to break the taboo of gender equality in a seemingly trivial way.
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