Barbie has been very meaningful in the life of so many of us, being the best companion for little girls all over the world, and produced great impact on the way that women think of themselves throughout generations and social changes.
Barbie was created on the 60’s, when girls where taught to grow to be good in the kitchen and take care of babies, this doll was a revolutionary idea created by Ruth Handler and Mattel Inc. a doll that could be whatever she wanted to be in this world!. This mindset influenced all those little girls to become powerful empowered woman on the future. The first Barbie debuted at the New York Toy Fair on March 9, 1959 in a black and white striped swimsuit and became the top on the market for decades.The logo of this product appealed to the children’s attention by its bright colors and fun typography (almost childlike) used in the year it was dropped. The color used to portray the brand is related to the gender norms of the time, being pink a color that was often used by girls.
In 1962 the first Barbie dream house, before women were even allowed to get their own bank accounts, the doll was self-sufficient in her own fashion and colorful house, giving little girls the dream and aspiration to see themselves like this in the future.
In 1968 This brand decided to show their support on social movements yet again when they releases the first black doll in the Barbie collection Named Christie, her facial features were redesign to match African-american features.
In 1975 the logo was redesigned based on the style of the epoch, being a little bit more funky, and using the shadow to make it pop out, as well as the letters with a more circular shape, which was a really common typography style during the 80’s and 90’s
“Girls can do anything” was a campaign released on 1985 to encourage little girls to dream big and aim high, and to show them how perfectly capable they are to achieve what they intend. On the 80’s many of the women’s movement attempts for equality were showing results, but women were still undermined by man in many professions.
In 1991 they decided to go back to the original concept on their logo image, they went from “trendy” to the childish appeal from their first logo, keeping some of the letters the same and removing the shadow for a more simple look. As well as they changed the shade of pink they had been using since the creation of the brand.
Breaking the social schemes Barbie President got all the ballots on 1992 with an all female president cabinet, allowing girls to aspire to be leaders of a free world.
For a more diverse catalog and to portray how the world looks today, Barbie introduced different body types, skin tones, ethnicities, hair and eye colors in their Barbie Fashionista line.
And since 2009, Barbie went back in time, they are currently using the same logo that they used when the brand was created, the same childish-fashion purpose, and Barbie remind and inmortal iconic figure thanks to all of this image process they went through, and the impact that the dolls had in our society.
