

and at Mattel they had to make a version of the character exclusive to Walmart supermarkets that was not pregnant. The problem was not a lack of morals, but rather the idea itself was a horror: Midge sold herself with a crib and changing table for her son (or daughter, something that depended exclusively on luck), and Between the madness of the idea and the conservatives getting angry, things didn’t end up working.

Considering Midge had been married twelve years earlier and had been on the shelves for four decades, perhaps it wasn’t so far-fetched for him to have a child. An absolutely grotesque idea that came face to face with the most conservative public, who complained that it encouraged teenage pregnancy. In this case, The doll had a pregnant belly attached to it by a magnet which, when removed, revealed another new character: a baby that could be removed to play with. Keep in mind that Barbie could never have children: for Ruth Handler, her creator, she represented that period in the life of a young woman before the responsibility of having a family. And also, a very special announcement: Midge was pregnant.
#Barbie stickers whatsapp update
At least until the fateful 2003, the moment where Alan and Midge would give us an update on their life in the line “Happy Family”which became a nightmare for Mattel.Īlan and Midge presented their three-year-old son Ryan in public (with the possibility of buying both of them in their African-American version). After the wedding, Alan returned to anonymity. Well, everywhere in the world except Brazil, where for some reason they made Ken’s best friend marry a certain Viky who was never heard from again.

They resurrected Allan, changed his name (it is now “Alan”), dressed him in white and the whole family went on a spree throughout the world. The character appeared continuously in different styles until In 1991 they decided at Mattel that it was time to marry her. in a line of beach dolls set in California. Two decades passed before Midge unceremoniously appeared on the market again. In fact, a year after disappearing, Christie arrived, the first African-American doll in the line that spoke and she stayed friends with Barbie for decades, forgetting Midge completely. Midge disappeared in 1967, losing popularity before characters like Skipper, Barbie’s teenage sister or Francie, the modern cousin. Allan lost track of it in 1965 after his version with knees that could bend. They both went on the market, they were repackaged and little else was known. If Midge was Barbie’s best friend, Allan was Ken’s best friend. For a year, Midge and Barbie were inseparable, but In 1964, Mattel designers decided that it was time for their friend to have a romantic life: thus Allan was born. In addition, it was available in three models: redhead, blonde or brunette, each with a matching swimsuit. His face was kinder even though his body was the same., so that both could share dresses, one of the keys to the doll’s success. The idea was for Midge to avoid criticism of Barbie, who was considered too adult for children. Midge was born in 1963 with the idea of always lasting by Barbie’s side, but business decisions sank her forever and they condemned her to being a one-joke character. And of course, she needed a best friend: Margaret Hadley Sherwood, better known as Midge. First his perfect match was created, Kenneth Sean Carson, or as we all know him, Ken. Okay, we already had the doll, now we just needed it to be alive. In the first year alone, 350,000 Barbies were sold and they bought the rights from German producers to avoid lawsuits. On March 9, 1959, the myth appeared in the United States and became an instant success even though Mattel didn’t give a dime for it. It’s no secret that Ruth Handler copied Barbie from a German doll called Bild Lili, created three years after the launch of Bild, where he had a comic strip.
