This is an old blog post from back in my second year of uni. I wish I knew where this essay was to give it a read through and perhaps post it up. I may have to hunt around for it!
For a recent essay analyzing a brand I chose to look at Barbie and very quickly became rather intrigued as to what it had taken to make the little doll the big star that she is today. Barbie was the brainchild of Ruth Handler, the woman who helped to create Mattel, one of the most well known toy companies in the world now.
Over the years Barbie has been called a whore, gotten bigger breasts, smaller breasts, been criticized for her weight, run into all sorts of controversy regarding her friends, worn every fashion imaginable, and even been involved in a very publicized embezzlement court case. That little doll is lucky to be where she is now!
I got to find some very interesting things out about Barbie whilst working on my essay, some of them quite sweet and funny and some not so nice. Mattel actually had an entire street in the US painted Barbie pink for a special event, something which must have been very strange to see! The most inspiring thing to me however was how her founder Ruth kept going throughout the years, even though she was in such a male driven world, faced prison, bankruptcy, being forced out of her own home and the horrors of breast cancer. She certainly seemed a very strong and inspiring woman.