![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/the-dark-side-of-barbie-from-dont-eat-diet-book-to-controversial-pregnant-midge-doll/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/2_Barbie-Doll.jpg&description=Although Barbie is a pink and positive brand on the surface, there are some deeply disturbing facts about the dolls that date back to the 1940s - long before Greta Gerwig's movie Barbie The Movie is about to hit screens in both the US and the UK in coming days and weeks, with the entire world going wild over Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. But before the live-action movie by Greta Gerwig was even a thing, the Barbie doll was a prominent part of popular culture thanks to the iconic doll being released on March 9, 1959 after its creation by American businesswoman Ruth Handler. But although Barbie franchise and the overall brand is known for being pink, pretty and on the whole, quite positive, there have been many controversies over the years with the dolls used by children all over the world. A little-known fact about Barbie dolls is that they started out with a very sinister meaning. Although these days Barbies are manufactured, marketed and sold as toys for children, they were actually modeled on a an adult gag gift doll from Germany named Bild Lilli. But even further back in time and long before Bild Lilli was created in doll form, she was in a 1940s German cartoon by Reinhard Beuthien. The comic strip character was named Bild Lilli and was a a post-war pin-up who seduced men. She was a popular fixture among readers, which is why the doll was made in the 50s. Ruth Handler is the woman who created the Barbie doll, and it is reported that after going to Germany in the 50s, she purchased some of the Bild Lilli dolls. "Lilli dolls could be bought in tobacco shops, bars and adult-themed toy stores," Robin Gerber, the author of Barbie and Ruth previously told Time. She added: 'Men got Lilli dolls as gag gifts at bachelor parties, put them on their car dashboard, dangled them from the rear-view mirror, or gave them to girlfriends as a suggestive keepsake." In 1965 the Slumber Party Barbie doll came with some bathroom scales that were set to 110lbs. Not only did the doll c){kind=link}
Although Barbie is a pink and positive brand on the surface, there are some deeply disturbing facts about the dolls that date back to the 1940s – long before Greta Gerwig’s movie
Barbie The Movie is about to hit screens in both the US and the UK in coming days and weeks, with the entire world going wild over Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.
But before the live-action movie by Greta Gerwig was even a thing, the Barbie doll was a prominent part of popular culture thanks to the iconic doll being released on March 9, 1959 after its creation by American businesswoman Ruth Handler.
But although Barbie franchise and the overall brand is known for being pink, pretty and on the whole, quite positive, there have been many controversies over the years with the dolls used by children all over the world.
A little-known fact about Barbie dolls is that they started out with a very sinister meaning. Although these days Barbies are manufactured, marketed and sold as toys for children, they were actually modeled on a an adult gag gift doll from Germany named Bild Lilli.