Alas, another touchstone toy from the baby boom era appears destined to become a relic. No, this toy, which seems ready to migrate from retail shelves to the low status of seldom-seen souvenir, isn’t just another Hula Hoop or Super Ball. This toy is the king – make that the queen – that all the girls fawned over and all the boys admired, silently and with mouths agape. Yes, I’m talking about Barbie.

Barbie is remarkable for hanging on so long. She came out in 1959, not long after Davy Crockett coonskin caps were the rage. Think about that. Those caps, along with most other faddish bric-a-brac of the baby boom era, have retailed mainly in dusty antique shops for decades. Yet Barbie has occupied valuable shelf space through the decades.

Barbie also is remarkable because she was the first widely marketed doll not to be an infant or some fantasized animal but a grown-up young woman. And those, ahem, adult proportions set off a societal debate that lingers today.

We could go on. Barbie was remarkable because she showed marketers that the big score was not in selling the doll itself but in ancillary goods. Johnny Carson joked that if you disliked someone, give his daughter a Barbie doll and watch him go bankrupt buying all the Barbie clothes, Barbie cars, Barbie houses, Barbie friends, Barbie friends’ clothes, etc.

But Barbie’s reign suddenly seems imperiled. Sales have swooned for some time now, and a couple of weeks ago Mattel Inc. announced a net loss because of surprisingly weak sales – down 14 percent – of Barbie.

Girls today apparently want more nuanced and complex story lines, not a standalone doll with a mysterious provenance. The El Segundo toymaker is smart and already has moved in that direction by, for example, creating its Monster High and American Girl lines. Those are doing well; American Girl sales were up 5 percent.

Mattel has been trying for years to keep Barbie relevant. Her waistline was thickened a bit and in 1971 her eyes were adjusted to look straight ahead, more assertively, instead of the sideways, demure gaze of the original.

And she was given all kinds of careers to make her seem like a happening woman of today. She was an astronaut in the 1960s and later a doctor. She was once a flight attendant but later held a pilot’s license and flew commercial liners. At different times, she was a veterinarian, a teacher and a dentist. Over the years, she was cast in more demanding roles than Michael Caine.

But as time went on and Barbie slipped in stature, some of Mattel’s moves seemed desperate and even cringeworthy. The company in 2004 announced that Barbie had decided to split up with her longtime boyfriend, Ken, but a couple of years later they hoped to rekindle the old flame because – and this makes perfect sense – Ken had a makeover. And then there was Nascar Barbie in 1998 and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Barbie recently.

But please, Mattel, stop it now. No more Barbie reboots. Barbie has enjoyed a long and distinguished run as the queen of baby boom toys, but the market is telling you that they no longer want her. Don’t sully her standing any further. I mean, what’s next? Mixed martial arts Barbie? Hezbollah Barbie?

Well, OK. Maybe one last makeover. Thicken her waist a little more, color her hair gray and call her Grandma Barbie. Then retire her.

Charles Crumpley is editor of the Business Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].