Henry Ford

BARBIE

Now a days, people are more concerned because of how they look, their image; especially women. This is due to the major influences that the media has over their visions. It is not only the media that is having this type of influence over women; also fashion dolls are having much of an influence, mainly Barbie dolls. The Barbie doll is a doll that is originally designed for girls, but women today see her as an ideal figure, and as a result they believe that that is the way they should look like.

It was not until the 1950s that Americans began to feel the positive growth of the post-war economy. People these days watched a lot of television shows, teenagers were trying to set a new music trend, and girls were playing with their paper dolls. So, it was back then that "the Barbie doll came as an inspiration to Mattel co-founder Ruth Handleer as she watched her young daughter, Barbara, playing with paper dolls" (Barbie, par 3). This inspired her because she always saw that her daughter was playing with her paper dolls making believe that the dolls were human beings and about their careers. So, as soon as Ruth notices this, she acknowledged, "playing make-believe and pretending about the future is an important part of growing up"(Barbie, par3). She began doing some research, and discovered that there really weren't any dolls that actually had a body, except for paper dolls, but the idea was to create a doll in which the girls could actually change their clothes, comb them, etc. So she decided to do this by designing a doll that was three dimensional to try and fill the gap. Therefore, after several designs, in 1959, Mattel Inc. introduced to the market, Barbie the Teenage Fashion Model. The public had never seen a doll like this ever before because all that had ever existed before were baby and paper dolls. Ever since Barbie was introduced into the market, it has been the most popular fashion doll ever designed. As years have passed by, the Barbie doll has reflected the fashion industry all throughout its fashion trends and changes. Not only did it represent the fashion industry, but also it became friends of an entire generation of girls. Today, not only do girls play with them but people also collect them as treasures, which will later on be worth thousands of dollars. But as mentioned above, most importantly, women and girls see Barbie as a perfect image.

The Barbie doll is a doll that girls see as their friend. Actually Barbie has helped them open the doors to young girls' imagination. Throughout the years, Barbie has been through numerous changes physically and also in the way that she is dressed. Not only this, but Barbie also has about seventy-five careers. For example, she is an astronaut, a doctor, a dentist, a teacher, and so on. Barbie has represented the fashion industry all along, as well as many celebrities. For example there is a doll that represents Scarlet O'Hara from Gone with the Wind. But as we are able to see there is a difference between the Barbie doll that is designed for kids and the ones that are intended to be a collector's item. Usually the ones that are designed for kids are mostly the ones that represent a career or the ones that have a fashion trend and that are very hip. On the other hand, the ones that are designed for collecting are usually more expensive and more delicate, for example the one of Scarlet O'Hara is intended to be a collector's item, as mentioned before. Later on, Ken, Barbie's boyfriend was introduced into the market. As time passed, more dolls were launched into the market and they were claimed to be Barbie's friends. This encouraged girls to play more with the Barbie dolls, and also, little by little they came to believe that Barbie was a perfect figure and that because if this they were supposed to look like her.

As a result of many girls believing that they want to be like Barbie and that they want to look like her, is that there are so many girls that believe that their image is everything they should worry about. Therefore, as a consequence there are many people that suffer from an eating disorder and are also frustrated with the way they look. It is not only girls that are having this trauma; also women believe this is so because they see Barbie as a perfect figure, when this is not true.

Studies have shown that if she were to be a real person, that it would be impossible for her to be able to walk, in fact to stand up due to the fact that her body is designed extremely