Category
Textual or Investigative
Description
Mattel, Inc. is a toy company located in California and sells some of the most iconic children’s toys across gender lines. From Hot Wheels, Barbie, Fisher-Price, and over a hundred more toy brands, Mattel, Inc. has touched millions of lives since its creation in 1945. Two of the most famous being American Girl Dolls and the Barbie Doll. Each doll was created by female entrepreneurs and was made to empower little girls in America. While the dolls were created to empower girls, teach feminist ideas, and share women’s history, the dolls face backlash for not being feminist enough, too grown up, or teaching unappealing lessons.
This research project tracks the media image of American Girl Dolls and the Barbie Dolls. Using material culture, newspaper articles, and art history, this project tracks the public image of the dolls, the impact the dolls had on day-to-day women, future entrepreneurs, and will allow us to track the political and societal impacts that impacted the dolls. Ultimately, this research looks into the question: how does political and social issues affect sales of Mattel dolls.
Barbie and American Girl Dolls are owned by millions of girls around the world. Feminism’s effects are felt by women across the globe. By tracking the sales of dolls, evaluating the origins of the dolls, and viewing how it affects women’s history in museums, this research will see how feminism and societal views of women affect children through the toy market.
Playing the Past: Girls, Dolls, and Entrepreneurs
Textual or Investigative
Mattel, Inc. is a toy company located in California and sells some of the most iconic children’s toys across gender lines. From Hot Wheels, Barbie, Fisher-Price, and over a hundred more toy brands, Mattel, Inc. has touched millions of lives since its creation in 1945. Two of the most famous being American Girl Dolls and the Barbie Doll. Each doll was created by female entrepreneurs and was made to empower little girls in America. While the dolls were created to empower girls, teach feminist ideas, and share women’s history, the dolls face backlash for not being feminist enough, too grown up, or teaching unappealing lessons.
This research project tracks the media image of American Girl Dolls and the Barbie Dolls. Using material culture, newspaper articles, and art history, this project tracks the public image of the dolls, the impact the dolls had on day-to-day women, future entrepreneurs, and will allow us to track the political and societal impacts that impacted the dolls. Ultimately, this research looks into the question: how does political and social issues affect sales of Mattel dolls.
Barbie and American Girl Dolls are owned by millions of girls around the world. Feminism’s effects are felt by women across the globe. By tracking the sales of dolls, evaluating the origins of the dolls, and viewing how it affects women’s history in museums, this research will see how feminism and societal views of women affect children through the toy market.
