Barbie FYK53 Bathroom-Themed Playset, with Shaving Ken Doll and Sink/Vanity, Multicolored

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This Barbie, introduced in 1963, represents a pretty good snapshot of what I think Mattel executives probably thought teen girls wanted in the sixties: a stylish girl who, just like them, had some light, teen responsibility.

Then, in 1991, something—presumably the doll’s lagging sales numbers—inspired the company to ask young girls whether Barbie should get a new boyfriend. From the start, Ken’s identity was intertwined with Barbie’s, quite literally shaped by Mattel’s obligation to preserve her precious image. Having long denied there is any sexual subtext to their dolls, Mattel suddenly found itself in the position of having to assert Earring Magic Ken’s heterosexuality: the ring around Ken’s neck might as well have been a noose,” duCille concluded in her 1996 essay “Toy Theory. And if that was the case, and you are one of those individuals, you will definitely want to read this entire list thoroughly.And they've gone back and forward through the years there, there have been, um, pushes at various points to be like, “Look at our diverse range of dolls.

Because many of Barbie's many different dolls they have created over the years are now worth a whole lot of money. Klimek: To get a better understanding of where Ken has been, and where he might go in the future, Emily and I sat down together and watched some ads for different Ken dolls over the years. Within the context of a decades-long Ken-versation, Gosling’s character brings to life a question that has always plagued the doll: What kind of man can Ken be in the shadow of a woman who’s designed to be larger than life? It was made of felt, but once the manufacturer realized his hair would fall out when wet, they changed it to a plastic, molded hairstyle. It’s only after being whipped into shape by an especially woke Barbie—who at one point declares “authority should derive from the consent of the governed, not from the threat of force!

They nevertheless agreed, per Mandeville, that “select firms would be allowed to develop the personality of Barbie, under the watchful eye of management of Mattel. You could argue Mattel was the company first known for dropping a new “type of guy” every few months before it became Twitter’s specialty. Because Barbie and Ken exist in the world, and the world puts different pressures on men and on women. The Barbie brand has been a wide success since its initial launch over fifty years ago and has made many young children have happy childhoods while playing with the iconic dolls. As media coverage of Earring Magic Ken hit a fever pitch, Mattel scrambled to run what it perceived as damage control.

Because what I think is really funny about the way they're doing this is that Ryan Gosling is imbuing his Ken with such personality. The young consumer testers raised on MTV came up with Ken wearing a mesh lavender shirt, tight pants, an earring and a ring necklace that looked a little too much like a sex accessory. At the same time that the American Jews are sort of like, “Well, what does it mean to be an American Jewish man or an American Jewish woman? While defenders of Barbie have often claimed that she is aspirational and creates positive role models for girls, not everyone can be an astronaut or Jackie Onassis.To get the full value of the doll, you'll need this Ken in his original box, with him in his swim trunks and accompanied by his towel, sandals, and stand. The latest vessel for their joint brand is Barbie, a surreal comedy directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as the most famous toy couple in history. While this gendered separation would be challenged, (Conan the Barbarian rides a horse and Barbie owned a Jeep) the message was clear: horses are pretty and are a girl's best friend. I had Barbies and Kens growing up, and the relationship between the individual Barbies and Kens that my sister and I played with—Mattel was not telling us what those were. It's not only a Barbie world — Ken dolls have been an iconic part of popular culture for decades, too, with certain editions becoming exceptionally valuable among collectors.