The decision to give him some depth marks a new chapter for men, and dolls who are men. He may not be as inspiring as an imaginary female solo homeowner or the first imaginary female president, but that doesn’t mean he can’t have a rich imaginary inner life.
Starting now, Mattel is re-imagining the all-American guy. Ken is “nice,” the members of the Barbie team will tell me over and over when I ask them to describe a doll’s personality: “a nice guy” “a solid dude” and, most damningly: “I picture him kind of Ryan Seacrest-y.” That’s because Ken is the carefully calibrated ideal complement to Barbie-a blank, smiling man who does not threaten the stardom of the most intelligent, talented, rappin’ rockin’ princess astronaut in all of Malibu. Ken is “nice,” they tell me over and over when I ask them to describe a doll’s personality: “a nice guy” “a solid dude” and, most damningly: “I picture him kind of Ryan Seacrest-y.” Ken), and a sovereign of the Crystal Caves (King of the Crystal Caves Ken), but that is what he is reduced to: someone who uses the toilet in a mysterious way.
Over time, Ken has been depicted as a rapping rocker (Rappin’ Rockin’ Ken), a doctor (Dr. “Because guys use toilets different from girls.” “That’s very important for Ken from a girl’s perspective,” says Michael Shore, Mattel’s head of global consumer insights (it means he watches kids play with dolls). He’ll teach girls precisely how much taller than women men should be and (sort of) about the different ways men use the bathroom Barbie’s Dreamhouse, a one-woman mega-mansion, features a single but quintessential nod to Ken’s existence: a toilet seat that lifts up. Consequently, he teaches young ladies that men are meant to have bodies like Olympic water-polo players. Ken is the first man-or, technically, eunuch-many little girls will ever see nude. Even if you never played with Ken, his tiny footfall has reverberated through your life he charges in early in the formative years of the fairer sex, setting an impossible standard for males against which you will be judged forever. Over the years, he has blossomed into a sculpted, perma-tanned icon of American masculinity. When he debuted in 1961, Ken (legal name: Ken Carson) was a spindly, anemic fan of casual swimwear.