Magnetic Stories

The power of brand storytelling

Growing up, I was what everyone would have called a tomboy. I preferred to be outside playing cricket or football or riding my skateboard and BMX bike. I was not into dolls at all. Needless to say, I never owned a Barbie and, decades later, when Barbie was being shamed as not being a good role model for girls, I happily went along with this. I refused to buy my two daughters a Barbie (and I think might even have told others not to buy them one).¹

Last year, however, I heard the backstory to Barbie and I realised my assumptions had been all wrong.

Barbie's backstory

Ruth Handler was the wife of Elliot Handler, the co-founder of Mattel. She noticed that when her daughter, Barbara, was playing with her paper dolls that she was actually pretending they were adults. In this play, her two children (Ken was their son — yes, Ken and Barbie were named after their children) would act out future events, rather than the present. She also noticed that while Barbara only had dolls that had her playing the role of caregiver, Ken had dolls that encouraged him to imagine himself as a doctor, firefighter, astronaut and so much more.

There were limitations with the paper dolls, including paper clothing that failed to attach well. So Ruth set to work to produce a three-dimensional plastic doll with an adult body and a wardrobe of fabric clothing.

Her husband and other executives at Mattel did not think it was a good idea at all. They assumed parents would not ...