When Barbie, with her permanently arched feet, first stepped out into the world, critics predicted she would be a flop.
Now, more than 60 years later, Barbie is a cultural phenomenon and this 29-centimetre, blonde-haired doll is one of the most influential women in the world. And one of the richest.
Last year alone saw Barbie generate worldwide sales of about $US1.5 billion ($2.24 billion), with a brand worth $US590 million ($860 million). And this year is expected to be another bumper year - if not more so - with the release of the highly anticipated Barbie film. Early predictions expected it to rake in upwards of $US300 million ($440 million) at the box office, with an opening weekend of $US31 million ($45.5 million).
But more than that, the film is an exercise in proving that Barbie is not an outdated brand. And judging by the hype surrounding the film, it has done just that.
When the first theatrical trailer was released in May, it spread like wildfire. And as Barbie, played by Australian Margot Robbie, stepped out of her fluffy pink heels, only for her feet to stay arched, it was a call to arms. Barbie fever took hold of not just the girls who were still playing with the dolls, but the women who thought they had outgrown them.
"I knew how excited we felt about sharing this movie and I had hoped that other people would feel that excitement too but it's kind of come back at us with so much enthusiasm and excitement, I'm even shocked, very shocked," Robbie told reporters at the film's world premiere in Los Angeles.
The company behind Barbie, Mattel, has signed more than 100 licensing deals, and the brands who are lucky enough to officially use the cursive logo on their products have landed on a gold mine.
Fans can buy official rollerblades (as seen with Ken, aka Ryan Gosling, in the trailer) thanks to Impala, and when they're not skating around town, they can put on their Barbie Crocs complete with custom charms. They can then go home to play on their Barbie Xbox or book a holiday in the Malibu Dream House on AirBnB. And if they're hungry - well there's a pink Barbie burger at Grill'd.
And they're just some of the official promotional deals. Other brands have jumped on the bandwagon to get a slice of the Barbiecore craze that is sweeping the world.
But how did we get here? The answer lies not just with the movie, but the legacy that has been created over more than six decades.
Origin story
Barbie's origin story begins with creator Ruth Handler - who co-founded Mattel with husband Elliot Handler and designer Harold Matson - watching her daughter Barbra play with paper dolls. She realised while there were plenty of plastic baby dolls, there weren't any that looked like adults. But when she pitched the idea, she was knocked back by designers.
"Oh, sure, there were so-called fashion dolls ... But these dolls had flat chests, big bellies, and squatty legs - they were built like overweight six- or eight-year-olds," Handler wrote in her 1994 autobiography Dream Doll.
Meanwhile, in Germany, there was the Bild Lilli doll - a risqué novelty gift for adults that was based on a comic in the West German newspaper Bild Zeitung. Created by artist Reinhard Beuthien, the comic strip debuted in 1952 and followed Lilli, an "exhibitionist and a floozy" who was known for her quick wit and seducing wealthy male suitors. It proved so popular that in 1953, the newspaper decided to market the doll.
It was on a family holiday to Europe that Handler and Barbara became transfixed by the Lilli doll in a shop window. Here was the proof Handler needed - a doll could be made that didn't look like a child but could still entertain one.
On March 9, 1959, the first Barbie was introduced to the world in her now iconic black and white striped swimsuit, at the annual Toy Fair in New York City. Named after Handler's daughter, the doll was an instant hit, with 300,000 sales in the first year.
But the thing was, Lilli didn't just provide proof that an adult doll could work for kids, it provided the design as well. While there were slight differences between Lilli and the original Barbie, the resemblance is still uncanny. And it did not go unnoticed.
Greiner & Hausser, the successor to the doll's original manufacturer, sued Mattel over copyright in 1961. The suit was ultimately settled out of court and Mattel would go on to buy the Bild Lilli copyrights and patent rights in 1964, taking the German doll out of production.
'Make believe I'm you'
The first television advertisement for Barbie featured images of the dolls as a woman sang: "Someday I'll be exactly like you. Until then, I know just what I'll do: Barbie, beautiful Barbie, I'll make believe that I am you."
Barbie could have it all - be it all - and as this fantasy of the American dream built over time, other characters were added to Barbie's world. The most notable was Ken - Barbie's ultimate "accessory" - who was first introduced in 1961. And just like Barbie was named after Handler's daughter, Ken was named after her son. Barbie's sister Skipper would follow in 1963, and then her best friend Midge in 1964. And in response to the Fair Housing Act of 1968 - which prohibited race discrimination in house sales and rentals - the first Black doll, Christie, was introduced to the Barbie World.
Then there were Barbie's careers. For a doll that started as a "model" in 1959, she has gone on to have a resume that includes more than 200 careers, including doctor, palaeontologist, rock star and robotics engineer. Not only has Barbie "been to the moon" multiple times, but when she first did so in 1965 - four years before Neil Armstrong - it was before most of the women in the world were even allowed to have a credit card in their name.
"My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be," Ruth Handler wrote in her 1994 autobiography. "Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices."
Controversy
But as long as there has been Barbie and her career ambitions, there has been controversy and debate.
In fact, in a Mattel-sponsored market study before the doll's release, there was criticism of the doll "having too much of a figure" and being overly sexualised.
When Barbie was released, that criticism then started to turn towards how nurturing the doll was. Or rather, wasn't. While other dolls of the time encouraged girls to play mum, Barbie didn't have children and therefore couldn't prepare kids for parenthood. But rather than create a family for the doll, Mattel released a babysitting Barbie instead.
Over the 60-plus years of Barbie, the only doll that has stepped into that caregiver role was best friend Midge. In 2003 there was even a Happy Family Midge doll, which came nine months pregnant, with a removable "belly cover" and a plastic newborn inside. This proved to be flop, and was discontinued in 2006.
On the other end of the spectrum, people have also criticised the doll for promoting gender norms. The 1970 Women's March for Equality even saw 10,000 women chant "I'm not a Barbie doll" as they marched the streets of New York. But it has been Barbie's effect on body image that has long been at the forefront of debate.
Quite possibly the most controversial Barbie doll was the 1965 Slumber Party Barbie, which came with two problematic accessories. The first was a set of pink scales set to 110lbs (49kg) and a diet book with only one instruction: "Don't Eat". It was removed from the shelves a year later, however the 1966 version of the doll still came equipped with her diet book.
As the years went by, the doll's effect on body image hasn't been as obvious but it remains a topic for debate.
In response to the buzz around the film, organisations such as The Embrace Collective - the not-for-profit led by Australian of the Year Taryn Brumfitt and Dr Zali Yager - even released information for parents worried about the "Barbie effect".
"Researchers have reminded us that her proportions would occur in less than one in 100,000 adult women, that her waist is 20cm smaller than a reference group of anorexic patients, and with these proportions, she would not be capable of menstruation," The Embrace Collective website reads.
When it comes to studies, there are relatively few evaluating the doll's impact on body image. One study, however, looked at adult women and how they feel about their current body image and eating behaviours, compared with how much they played with Barbie as a child.
While women who played with Barbie had a higher conformity to feminine norms - in particular, a higher focus on appearance - no link was found between playing with the doll as a child and adult body image and disordered eating behaviours.
Still, there have been changes to Barbie's body in recent years. Most notably, since 2016 Barbie has been sold in three additional body shapes - petite, tall and curvy - as well as expanding the options available in terms of race and ethnicity.
Barbie in 2023
Is there a world where both of these two ends of the spectrum can not only co-exist but be the key to solidifying Barbie's relevance?
With a tagline like "If you love Barbie, this movie is for you. If you hate Barbie, this movie is for you", that certainly seems to be the case with the upcoming film.
According to all of the messaging surrounding it - including the interviews with Robbie, director Greta Gerwig and other actors - they have tried to walk that line between both camps, saying they wanted to show not just the highlights but the lowlights of the brand.
"Over the decades, Barbie's been ahead of her time but she's also been behind the times and she's been seen as ditsy, she's been seen as a tool to regress feminism," actor Issa Rae, who plays President Barbie, said at the film's world premiere.
"There's so many things that have been placed upon Barbie and I hope after this, people use Barbie to examine themselves and their place in the world."
Debates were had, according to Robbie, between the film creatives and Mattel. Some were reportedly surrounding objections Mattel had for calling Robbie's version of the doll "Stereotypical Barbie", rather than "Original Barbie", while others dived headfirst into whether they should include the key criticism the doll has had over recent years - the effect it has on girls' self-esteem. While Mattel wanted the plot point removed, Robbie and Gerwig fought for it to stay.
Historically, Mattel has been very protective of the Barbie brand. For example, the company sued MCA Records in 1997 over Aqua's song, Barbie Girl - the Euro-pop parody with lines including "I'm a blonde bimbo girl". The judge ruled against Mattel, saying, "The parties are advised to chill."
Now, that same song has had a refresh for the Barbie soundtrack.
And perhaps their tight-rein approach has got them so far. There is a reason that billboards only needed to be covered in the signature Barbie pink - Pantone 219C - and the words July 20, for people to know that it was advertising the upcoming film.
But arguably the brand's relatively relaxed new approach - letting a film discuss the good and the bad sides of Barbie - is what is making it a cultural moment. At least from a marketing point of view.
