Come on Barbie, Let’s Sell Barbies
American Toy Companies, Led by Mattel, Have Entwined Marketing and Entertainment for Over Half a Century
The year was 1997.
“Un-Break My Heart” by Toni Braxton dominated the radio waves. Wallet chains and JNCO jeans were red-carpet staples. And plastic? It was fantastic.
Cool Shoppin’ Barbie wasn’t just made of plastic, she was the first ever doll to come with her very own piece of it. She came equipped with a cash register, bar code scanner, credit card reader, and two credit cards—a life-sized cardboard Mastercard, and a doll-sized plastic one.
In a year where a record 1.35 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy, and the director of the …
