Barbie is a teenage fashion doll made by the toy company Mattel, Inc. The doll was introduced in 1959 by the American toy inventors Elliot and Ruth Handler. The couple founded Mattel in 1945. Mattel is one of the world’s largest toy companies, and Barbie is one of the world’s most popular dolls.
Ruth Handler saw her daughter, Barbara, playing with paper dolls. She decided to make a doll that had many beautiful outfits. Ruth’s inspiration for Barbie was a German doll called Bild-Lilli. She named the new doll after her daughter.
Mattel introduced the 11 1/2-inch (29-centimeter) vinyl Barbie doll at the American International Toy Fair in New York City. The doll created some controversy because the teenage Barbie had the figure of an adult woman. Barbie was one of the first toys to be advertised on television. The doll became popular almost immediately.
Clothes for the Barbie doll were sold separately and came with accessories and shoes. Over the years, sales of the outfits produced more profits for Mattel than the doll itself. The company has sold over a billion Barbie outfits.
Mattel introduced other dolls as friends and family members of Barbie. Such dolls included her boyfriend, Ken (introduced in 1961); her friend Midge (1963); and her sister Skipper (1964). Some of Barbie’s other friends have included an African American girl named Christie (added in 1968); a Hispanic girl named Teresa (1988); and an Asian or Pacific Island girl named Kira (1990). Barbie’s friend Becky, who uses a wheelchair because of a disability, was added in 1997.
Mattel made a wide variety of toys to accompany the Barbie doll. In 1962, the company introduced a cardboard dollhouse called Barbie’s Dream House. By the 1980’s, the dollhouse was made of pink vinyl, and the color pink soon came to be associated with Barbie. Other Barbie toys include vacation homes, cars, airplanes, a camper, and a cruise ship. There are also Barbie games, books, paper dolls, coloring books, lunch boxes, video games, websites, and apps (software applications) for smartphones. There have been many television programs and motion pictures about Barbie, including the live-action movie Barbie (2023). 
Since her introduction, Barbie has been featured as a fairy, a princess, and the fairy-tale character Rapunzel. Barbie has also been sold with outfits and accessories representing different careers in the “I Can Be…” series. Barbie can be dressed as an astronaut, computer engineer, dentist, news anchor, president, race car driver, and many other professionals. In 2015, Mattel introduced “Hello Barbie,” a doll that uses Wi-Fi and speech recognition technology to engage in two-way conversations with a child. Wi-Fi is a wireless computer networking technology. The doll can also play games and tell jokes.
In the 2010’s, Mattel also introduced new Barbie dolls with different body types and more varied skin tones, eye colors, and hair. Some new dolls used a wheelchair or prosthetic (artificial) limb. Such additions were intended to reflect real-life diversity and help children feel more confident about their own unique selves. 
Some Barbie dolls are higher-priced collectibles targeted to adults. These include porcelain Barbies dressed in designer or vintage fashions and dolls representing Hollywood stars and other celebrities.
