How Barbie changed the world
HistoryExtra podcast
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The History of the First Barbie
Ruth Handler created the first Barbie in 1959. She was told it wouldn't sell at Toy Fair, which is when toys were sold. But she hired a man named Ernest Dicture to do focus groups on mothers and daughters. He found that girls loved her doll; so they started selling Barbies as teenage fashion models. The ad ran on television after school let out: $300,000 worth of orders placed.
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