Yesterday, 9 March, the Barbie brand celebrates its 59th anniversary.
Despite its half-century existence, the brand remains as relevant and useful as ever, Barbie is still the most popular toy and doll brand in the world, with a 99 per cent brand awareness across over 150 countries around the world; over 14 million Facebook fans, more than 4.5 million monthly app users, over 4 million active website users, 3.2 million YouTube subscribers, 268 000 Twitter followers, and one of the world’s fastest-growing Instagram accounts, @Barbiestyle, currently sitting at a massive 1.9 million followers.
As the years went by, Barbie has been inspiring little girls, empowering them through creative play to imagine the possibilities of being anything they want to be. Barbie has over 180 careers on her CV, any imaginable career, Barbie has been there and done it – from a teenage fashion model to an airline pilot – Barbie has been inspiring little girls to go beyond the sky’s limit.
In 2015, in a bid to provide girls all over the world with role models who looked just like them, she broke more boundaries when she hit shelves in an assortment of skin tones and hair textures, followed closely by different body types in 2016, to better represent a more varied and authentic reality. Girls across the globe can now choose to play with a Barbie who looks just like them or create a group of friends who is more like their own group of friends at school.
In South Africa alone, it is reported that over 10 million units of Barbie adorned consumer products were sold in 2017, from clothing lines reminding kids that ‘it’s great to be a girl’, and encouraging them to make things happen, to school bags, stationery and scatter cushions reminding them to Dream BIG, Think the unthinkable, and always show their sparkle.
It is safe to say that wherever children across the world see Barbie’s image, they don’t see a doll, but rather a world of limitless possibilities and opportunities – a brand that celebrates the power of imaginative play and empowers children – especially young girls – to dream big.
