On the 9th of March 1959, the Barbie doll made its first debut and has since gone on to become a favourite among millions of kids around the world. Here are a few facts you probably didn’t know about the famous toy.
Barbie is not her real name
Well, it’s a nickname, gotten from her name, Barbara Millicent Roberts. She was named after the daughter of Ruth and Elliot Handler, co-founders of Mattel, the American toy company that manufactures the dolls.
The first Barbie doll was not wearing pink
Barbie’s love for pink has never been a hidden fact as most of her outfits are usually pink or at least have a touch of it. However, the first Barbie, released in 1959 was dressed in a black and white bodysuit.
Barbie has had more than 150 careers in the course of her years
The courses include being an astronaut, elementary school teacher, a business executive, a McDonald’s cashier, a rapper, a medical doctor, a photographer, an engineer, etc.
Ken is two years younger than Barbie
Ken, Barbie’s long-time boyfriend, is two years and two days younger than her, as he was introduced in 1961.
Barbie dolls are not allowed in saudi Arabia and Iran
The famous toys were first banned in Saudi Arabia by the country’s religious police in 2003, on grounds that ‘their revealing clothes and shameful postures, accessories and tools are a symbol of decadence to the perverted West’. In 2012, Iran officially took the dolls off their shelves, following similar complaints, despite the existence of Burka-wearing Barbies.
In 2016, a young Nigerian doctor introduced ‘Hijarbie’
Hijarbie, a brainchild of female Nigerian muslim, Haneefah Adam, is the Hijab-wearing Barbie that exists on the internet. The young lady, then a Medical Science student, started the account because she wanted her fellow Muslims to have a Barbie they could relate better to.
Barbie is 11.5 inches tall
Barbie is 11.5 inches tall, which is 5’9, with a incredible body statistics of 36in (bust), 18in (waist) and 33 in (hips).
The Barbie doll is one of the best-selling toys in the world
The manufacturing company in charge of the famous dolls, Mattel, claim that more than three Barbie dolls are sold per second, making it one of the top three best-selling toys in the world. It is estimated that over a billion of them have been sold in over 150 countries around the world.