Barbie® celebrates a significant milestone as she marks 60 fabulous years of being a figure of empowerment reflecting a global icon of aspiration, culture and fashion. Starting from the eve of Barbie®’s birthday, over 150 countries worldwide will come together to honour the global icon. In Singapore, you can look forward to a line-up of Barbie 60th Anniversary treats and surprises – from the first-ever Barbie® Flight on the Singapore Flyer to the launch of Barbie®’s 60th Anniversary Signature Collectible and Career Dolls.
Inspiring girls since 1959, Barbie® was first created by Ruth Handler to give girls a role model to imagine their future selves. Over the years, Barbie® has evolved to a more relevant, modern reflection of the world girls see today. Today, Barbie® offers the most diverse and inclusive doll line in the world and have introduced over 100 new looks with more skin tones, hair colours and textures, eye colours, facial structures and body diversity to allow girls to find a doll that they can identify with.
On its 60th Anniversary this year, Barbie® celebrates its heritage with the campaign theme “You Can Be Anything” – a message to empower girls that they can be anything they imagine to be.
“Barbie®’s 60th celebration is a step towards helping girls to know of a world where they can achieve any job or dream and take bold steps into careers where women are less represented,” said Chris Chan, Head of Marketing, Mattel Southeast Asia. She added, “Barbie® has come a long way as a role model to show girls that they have choices and can achieve any careers they imagine to be. Beyond the 60th year, we look forward to inspiring the next few generations of girls and establish Barbie® as the ultimate icon of empowerment.” Representatives from notable brands such as Fisher-Price, Nestingdolls.co and Bandai Singapore have also been invited to events around the city leading up to Barbie’s 60th main birthday celebration.
Barbie 60th Anniversary – Empowering Girls through #MoreRoleModels
In Singapore, Barbie®’s 60th Anniversary celebration is timed to International Women’s Day, a global event that celebrates the achievements of women around the world, to create the biggest celebration of female role models who break boundaries, to inspire and empower the next generation of young girls on their pursuit of dreams, where they can be anything.
The Barbie® brand believes girls should never know a world, or a job, or a dream that women have not conquered. Globally, women remain underrepresented in various industries, especially in S.T.E.M (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). With over 200 careers and counting, Barbie® represents an empowering role model to show and inspire girls that there are no jobs men do that women cannot handle.
Through Barbie®’s purpose to inspire the limitless potential in every girl, we want to highlight careers where women are underrepresented and spotlight on relevant female individuals who are breaking boundaries to inspire the next generation of girls. For the 60th Anniversary celebration, a group of #MoreRoleModels, who have taken the path less travelled, shared their story in the pursuit of their career.
From culinary to sports and science, these role models and nesting dolls remind young girls that they are empowered with choices and inspire them to be anything they want to be. They are Genevieve Lee, first runner-up of MasterChef Singapore, Nur Farina M J Ismail, a bodybuilder and personal trainer from Anytime Fitness and Senior Biostastician Wei Yuan from Singapore Clinical Research Institute.
Barbie 60th Anniversary – Limited Edition Collectible Doll and Career Dolls
The Barbie® 60th Anniversary Career Doll collection comprises of six careers including an astronaut, soccer player, firefighter, news anchor, pilot and political candidate. These dolls were amongst the Career Line from the beginning and have been chosen to re-establish the careers that are underrepresented by women.
Each doll features different eye colours, hairstyles, skin tones and body types and are dressed in outfits that correspond to each doll’s respective career. From 9 March, Barbie fans can get their hands on the collection of Barbie®’s 60th Anniversary Career Dolls, exclusively at Toys ‘R’ Us for $24.99 per doll.
To commemorate her diamond anniversary, Barbie® launched the collectible Barbie® 60th Anniversary Doll. She wears a cascading ball gown twinkling with silvery sparkles. Paying homage to the original Barbie® doll and her iconic fashion heritage, Barbie® 60th Anniversary Doll wears a dramatic ponytail with an elegant twist, side-eye glance, hoop earrings and wrist tag. The 60th Anniversary doll will only be available in Singapore Flyer Gifts, Level 3 from mid-March. Takashimaya, Toys ‘R’ Us and Kaboom (Changi Airport) will be retailing from June 2019 onwards, for $89.90, while the Barbie® Travel Range will be launched in June 2019.
Barbie 60th Anniversary – Barbie® Inspire Dreams to take flight at the Singapore Flyer
In line with the launch of Barbie®’s Travel Range, iconic landmarks across five countries in Southeast Asia will light up in iconic pink from today. Leveraging on the theme of travel, these landmarks represent unique travel destinations where visitors are encouraged to embark on a journey of adventure and discovery to ignite their wildest imagination as they explore the city.
In Singapore, Barbie® has partnered with Singapore Flyer, Asia’s largest Observation Wheel, to transform a capsule into a thematic Barbie’s 60th Anniversary flight to celebrate the momentous occasion. From 9 March to 30 June 2019, locals and tourists alike can swing onboard the exclusively-decorated Barbie® Flight adorned with all things Barbie® while they admire the stunning view and city landscape of Singapore. What’s more! Keep your eyes peeled and watch as the skies glisten as Singapore Flyer lights up in an iconic shade of Barbie pink from 6.30pm daily till 21 March 2019.
General Manager of Singapore Flyer, Ringo Leung said, “We are excited to partner Mattel Inc. to celebrate Barbie®’s 60th Anniversary in Singapore! Singapore Flyer is Asia’s largest Giant Observation Wheel where visitors come onboard to enjoy a panoramic view of Singapore and learn more about the vibrant city. With the launch of Barbie® Flight, there is now an added reason to discover Singapore’s landscape with your childhood icon.”
Tickets can be purchased at the Singapore Flyer’s ticketing counter (Level 1) from 8am to 10pm daily or visit the booking portal here. For Barbie® Flight timings, please refer to the website here.
