After Barbie's Creation, Consumers Demanded a Boy Version. There Was Just One Problem.

"The real presence was the exuberant doctor with a shrinking halo of red hair. Ernest Dichter, the self-styled Freudian marketer who claimed to plumb the psyches of the American consumer, was visiting from New York. On this particular day, as Schneider later remembered, the Handlers called him in to discuss a controversy that had been tearing the office apart, dividing old allies and forging unlikely alliances, and which so far seemed to have little prayer for resolution."

"The company had gone public in April, and almost on cue, the Handlers found themselves contending with the public more directly than ever before. It wasn't just their shareholders; it was the fact that they were big enough to have shareholders, that Mattel had transitioned from a West Coast startup to a national entity with millions of customers, millions of fans, and millions of opinions on what they should do."

In 1960 Mattel leadership confronted an internal controversy over Ken's anatomy, convening founders, marketing staff, ad executives, and Freudian consultant Ernest Dichter. The meeting reflected tensions between creative impulses, marketability, and public perception as the company swelled into a national enterprise. Mattel's April public offering intensified scrutiny from shareholders and customers alike. The early Barbie launch generated massive correspondence from children, prompting the company to hire a secretary to handle mail and to begin issuing a newsletter. Rapid popularity created operational pressures and influenced decision-making about product presentation, branding, and responses to consumer expectations.

Read at Slate Magazine