Popular culture refers to the artifacts, institutions, customs and hobbies that represent the accepted values of society. the toys that are popular of any given time will therefore communicate the values of a society at a certain time period. dolls provide a valuable lesson in values and ideology. g.i. joe dolls have been popular for the past 30 years. they came around in the 70s during the vietnam war. the doll reinforced the idea that america should accept their involvement in the war. every time america engages in a war the sales of these dolls go up. barbie also represents the social values of a time. barbie started off as a beautiful housewife when those ideals were valued. now, barbies body has changed and she is a career woman with choice .. this represents the values of society today. many dolls are created to support social standards of the time. there has been a homosexual doll, a california roller baby, bathtime shivers baby etc ...