"An Un-American Story: Mattel’s entrepreneurial intimidation in the global toy industry (1950s-1960s)"

This paper explores how the toy manufacturer Mattel shaped the structure and competitive dynamics of the US and global toy industry during its rapid growth in the 1950s and 1960s. The official narrative, led by founder Ruth Handler, presents Mattel as an aggressive newcomer that revolutionized the U.S. toy industry through innovation, entrepreneurial vision, and bold marketing strategies, securing long-term dominance.
However, we argue that this portrayal only fits Mattel’s early years from 1948 to 1955, when the Handlers were building the company from the ground up. By the mid-1950s, as Mattel gained a dominant position in the U.S. toy market, particularly with the 1959 launch of the Barbie doll, its success was less about innovation and more about shaping the industry through non-market strategies.
The paper first critiques Handler’s claims about Barbie's uniqueness. It then shows how, following Barbie’s successful debut, Mattel maintained its market dominance by systematically using as legal disputes and court trials to challenge competitors and distributors to limit competition, ensuring its control over the toy market.
The analysis is drawn from a vast array of sources, including Ruth Handler’s personal archives at Schlesinger Library, and a rich collection of legal cases from the 1960s, as well as oral histories, and interviews with collectors.