Sales of the iconic dolls have been declining for nearly three years, and Mattel’s other dolls, such as Monster High and American Girl, have failed to make up for Barbie’s fading charm. Sales of Fisher-Price pre-school toys fell 16%.Barbie made her debut in 1959 but has fallen out of favour, with girls increasingly opting for electronic toys such as tablets and watches and dolls based on Walt Disney’s animated film Frozen. In 2009, Barbie held more than a quarter of the market share in the US dolls and accessories market, but that proportion tumbled to 19.6% in 2013. Mattel, which this year was deposed by Denmark’s Lego Group as the world’s largest toy maker by sales.
