Barbie

Barbie is a consumer and a cultural icon that continues to attract contradiction and controversy nearly six decades after her launch in 1959. At first sight, the 11.5-inch plastic doll, owned by the Mattel Corporation, is a ubiquitous and timeless consumer success story. Two Barbie dolls are sold every second across 150 countries with more than one billion incarnations in existence; 90 percent of girls in the United States under the age of 10 own at least one, and the average number of Barbies per child is ten in the USA, seven in the UK and Italy, and five in France and Germany. As a collector's item, it also seems to be an appealing and enduring investment: the original 1959 Barbie that sold for US$3 in 1959 fetched €27,000 in 2006.