Concept in Definition ABC

The Mattel trademark is a icon of the world toy store. His story began in 1945 in a modest workshop when Harold Mattson and Elliot Handler and his wife joined forces and from the former's last name and the latter's first name they created a new brand. Initially its founders focused on the manufacturing craft of picture frames, but with the passage of time they introduced toys, dolls and accessories for the little ones.

A plastic ukulele was the first commercially successful product. In 1959, the brand's star doll, Barbie, was born.

The company is headquartered in El Segundo, California, but 75% of the products are manufactured in Asian countries. Mattel has underperformed in recent years.

Star products

Barbie is much more than just a doll. It was designed by the wife of one of the founders of the trademark and his appearance Physics mimics the canon of women's beauty. Ken Carson is Barbie's boyfriend and with both dolls and their corresponding accessories, girls can recreate all kinds of stories.

Hot Wheels is a line of automobiles a scale reduced that move with great speed and that has millions of collectors around the world.

So named because they fit in a pocket and can be carried anywhere, the Polly Poocket are iconic dolls with their own miniature world.

The Mattel Games range includes card games (Boom-O or Apples to Apples), from strategy (Blokus), video games (The Harbingers) or a combination of trivia and strategy (Bezzerwizzer).

The American Girl line includes dolls of different ethnicities, as well as a series of accessories.

While the history of this company is full of commercial successes, there have also been some controversies

- Barbie doll has been considered the symbol of the "silly blonde" and the representation of the objectification of women.

- During the 90s in some of its factories in the United States, American workers were laid off to hire Asian labor at a lower cost.

- It has also received harsh criticism for using lead materials to make some toys.

- Finally, in 2010, the managers of MGA Entertainment put a demand against Mattel, which was accused of industrial espionage for more than a decade (in the trial Mattel was found guilty and had to pay its competitor a fine of millions of dollars).

Fotolia photos: ink drop / flamingo

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