Barbie’s birthday

Jo Lumb pays homage to one of the great ladies of our time

9 MARCH 2009 marked the fiftieth birthday of a very special lady: Barbara Millicent Roberts. More commonly known as Barbie, this is a woman who boasts a résumé of 100 different careers, a two times candidacy for president of the United States, and a yearly wealth of approximately $1.5 billion. And all this without a grey hair in sight.

Still looking good for 50!

Barbie was born to American toy manufacturers Elliot and Ruth Handler. She was conceived after seeing their daughter Barbara (hence the name) playing with infant paper dolls and giving them adult roles. The initial concept was to produce a plastic doll with a womanly figure that would help children ‘realize their dreams and goals through play.’ Despite the fact that my own Barbies may not have helped me plan my lifelong ambitions, I will readily admit that they are a prominent feature when reminiscing upon my many fond childhood memories.

Amid a vast array of swanky birthday celebrations, reaching the half-century milestone also allowed a perfect opportunity for people to reflect on the plastic phenomenon. Barbie has not only influenced children’s playtimes, but also adult lives. While images of Katie Price’s wedding day spring to my mind on combining the words ‘adult’ and ‘Barbie’, at the launch of the Barbie Dream Beetle Convertible car (one of her many lavish gifts) Laura Soave, the Manager of Marketing at Volkswagen of America, said: ‘Barbie has made a remarkable impact on pop culture history, and still remains a cultural icon today.’

When thinking of her many successes it would seem that there is actually a lot to be learnt from Barbie, who has marketed herself as one of the most successful business women of all time. From working as a McDonalds cashier to serving as a Navy Officer, she has undoubtedly cemented herself as a respectable pillar of society, all the while doing so with a dazzling Hollywood smile on her face. And better yet, there are most definitely brains behind the beauty, she has both a medical and veterinarian degrees under her size quadruple-zero belt.

Although her outfits may leave little to the imagination, there is no doubting Barbie’s decorum. After a 43 year romance (yes, she started early) Barbie left boyfriend Ken to embrace life as independent woman. Any celebrity who manages a four decade romance with no surface of a sex tape is a very classy lady in my eye.

It seems that the only criticisms she faces are those related to her unrealistic body proportions. If Barbie were to be human, and of an average height of 5 ft 6 ins, then her relative waist size would be 20 ins (this is three inches less than Victoria Beckham, although not unheard of), her bust 27 ins and hips 29 ins. It is fair to say that Barbie’s BMI would fall below the minimum healthy 17 per cent, but let’s be honest, it’s not realistic that she would be an astronaut and a Spice Girl in the same lifetime, so I think we can cut her some slack. My only personal concern is that ex-boyfriend Ken was named so after Elliot and Ruth’s son. Technically Barbie and Ken are therefore siblings, and thus their relationship is a little incestual for my liking. But I suppose choice is somewhat limited when you’re a plastic doll.

Sadly, Barbie’s market share has suffered since the Bratz Dolls were introduced in 2001. However, after reading an article, ‘Bratz Begets Brats’, which branded the dolls as tarty-party girls, I feel confident that the Barbie role model will forever reign, and rightly so. As her website boldly states: ‘It’s Barbie’s world. We just play in it.’