Barbie's Asian Rivals

With the runaway success of Barbie, which has raked in well over a billion US dollars at the global box office, pink posters and merchandise are everywhere. But in Asia, America's famous doll never quite caught on.

According to official Mattel history, Barbie was born in 1959 after creator and Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler saw the opportunity to "champion and inspire girls". In the 1960s and 70s, Handler's blondhaired, blue-eyed doll (usually wearing something pink) conquered the US, living the American dream in Malibu with a docile boyfriend called Ken. But storm clouds were gathering.

By the 1980s and 90s, Barbie, her body and her fashion choices were increasingly frequent targets of Western feminists, and Mattel began toying with the idea of introducing foreign markets to their signature product. Sadly, the leggy blond that had been such a compelling, if questionable, role model for pale little girls in the West flopped resoundingly on the international stage.

Russian authorities gave her the cold shoulder in 2002, lamenting that she aroused "early sexual interest" in young girls. The following year, the Saudis banned her, appalled by Barbie's "shameful postures". In 2009, Mattel's very pink six-floor flagship Barbie store in Shanghai, China closed its doors after just two years. Barbie's "universal appeal", it seems, has its limits.

BARBIE Mattel (USA, 1959)

Barbie was originally made in Japan, but Mattel was forced to move production out of the country as local rival Licca-Chan grew in popularity