Barbie Malibu Truck Tour is coming to Columbus for 50th birthday celebration

In 1959, Ruth Handler, a mother and entrepreneur watched her daughter project her dreams and aspirations onto paper dolls. From there, a new kind of doll was born. One that would transcend being a toy to become a symbol of American culture.

Recognizing a gap in the market, which offered only baby dolls for girls to imagine themselves as caregivers, Handler invented a three-dimensional doll that girls could use to imagine their future selves.

Her name was Barbie.

The philosophy behind Barbie was that through the doll, a little girl could be anything she wanted to be.

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On March 9, 1959, Barbie debuted at the New York Toy Fair and took the world by storm.

Since then, Barbie has spawned countless TV shows and films, had over 200 careers, started a vlog channel on YouTube and will soon be a major live-action movie starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.

Barbie has long represented the future of femininity. She bought her first Dreamhouse in 1962, 12 years before the passing of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act that prohibited credit discrimination based on gender.

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While Barbie was always 10 steps ahead of history in terms of being showcased in career fields that women were traditionally underrepresented in, Barbie's early looks were very demure with pursed lips and sideway glances.

That all changed in 1971 with Malibu Barbie's sun-tanned skin and platinum blonde hair.

"Malibu Barbie debuted with a new face sculpt, including the addition of an open smile with pearly white teeth, and, thanks to the groundswell of the feminist movement and female empowerment, her sparkling blue eyes faced forward for the first time," Barbie's website reads.

Fifty years later, Mattel is celebrating Malibu Barbie's half-centennial by touring the newly redesigned Malibu Barbie truck across America.

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Malibu Barbie will be making a stop in Columbus from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdayat 160 Easton Town Center, near the Crate & Barrel.

The truck will offer an array of brand-new ‛70s-themed Malibu Barbie beach apparel and accessories, including: a Barbie-logo embroidered denim jacket, Malibu Barbie necklace, mug, beach towel, water bottle and more.

The Barbie Truck Totally Throwback Tour kicked off in Los Angeles in fall of 2019 and will continue to travel to different cities throughout the U.S. Following the Columbus visit, the Barbie Truck Malibu Tour will head to Cincinnati on Aug. 13.

Merchandise will be available to purchase from the Barbie Pop-Up Truck by credit card. Pieces range in price from $12 to $75. For more information, visit https://shop.mattel.com/pages/barbie-truck-tour.

David Kwiatkowski is a features intern for The Columbus Dispatch. You can reach him on Twitter @kwiatkdm or his email dkwiatkowski@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Malibu Barbie turns 50: Pop-up shop to debut in Easton