Ruth Handler Club children's television show, Mattel invested heavily in television advertising. The TV commercials for the Barbie doll paid off and Barbie rocketed Mattel and the Handlers to fame and fortune. Subsequently, they would add a boyfriend for Barbie named Ken, after the Handlers' son, and many other "friends and family" to Barbie's world. Handler was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1970. She had a modified radical mastectomy, which was often used at the time to combat the disease, and because of difficulties in finding a good breast prosthesis, she decided to make her own. Handler went on to found a
Mark Handler Disney Channel from a pay TV model to a straightforward tier cable channel. During his tenure, the subscription base grew from one million to fifteen million subscriptions. Prior to his union with Disney, Handler spent six years with Cox Communications, working in marketing and several general management positions. Handler was also named executive vice president, international, for GO.com, the internet business of The Walt Disney Company which later would be renamed to Walt Disney Internet Group. A fifteen-year Disney veteran, Handler was tasked with further developing the Walt Disney Internet Group’s international expansion in Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America.