Barbie's 50th anniversary

B
arbie celebrates her 50th anniversary this year. She may be hugely popular across the world but is she any kind of female role model? Does she represent a glamorous female figure which girls try to copy or is she simply a dressing up doll?

Join Kate and Jackie on this week's programme as they discuss some of the controversy surrounding the doll and hear from some other women in London and their thoughts on the iconic doll.

This week’s question: When Barbie first went on sale in 1959, around 350,000 were sold in the first year. How many dolls sell today? Is it:

Listen to the programme
Barbie's 50th anniversary

a) 3 per hour
b) 3 per second
c) 3 per minute

Listen out for the answer to the question at the end of the programme!

Vocabulary from the programme:
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global brand
a product made by a particular company which sells successfully and is recognised all over the world

role model
a person or figure who is admired and whose behaviour others try to copy 
average
typical or ususal

stereotype or stereotypical
a fixed idea that people have about what someone or something is like (which is often wrong)

image
an idea or mental picture about how someone or something  is
portray
to represent or show

skinny
to have a very thin body type  - often used in a negative or disapproving way

politically correct or ‘pc’
the belief that language and actions which could be offensive to others (especially those relating to gender and race) should be avoided