While watching her daughter, Barbra, play make-believe out of paper dolls in the early 1950s Ruth Handler had the idea to create a three dimensional doll for her to enjoy. She noticed Barbra focused her attention on one type of doll: a grown-up woman. “Ruth immediately recognized that experimenting with the future from a safe distance through pretend play was an important part of growing up” (Barbie History 2015). When Ruth and her family were on a trip in Switzerland she stumbled upon a “Bild-Lilli” doll in a shop window. Bild-Lilli was not a child’s toy at the beginning; she started life as a sex toy, then later becoming a child’s toy with her lavish wardrobe and accessories. Ruth didn’t care about that and decided to use her as a stepping stone into creating her own doll. Barbie- who she named after her daughter debuted in 1959. In 1992, the average American girl owned seven Barbie’s. “Over 1 billion Barbie dolls have been sold, making it the most valuable toy brand in the world. She is the “face of the American Dream,” dressing and undressing, brushing and grooming, is what Barbie is all about. Mattel calculates that every second, somewhere in the world two Barbie’s are sold” (Economist 2015).