Accidentally gay ken doll

Mattel has been manufacturing its Barbie dolls since Shortly thereafter, it began producing dolls of Barbie's boyfriend, Ken. Girls really liked Barbie, and the doll became a certifiable cultural force, but Ken dolls never sold as well.

In an effort to increase sales of Ken dolls in the early '90s, Mattel's research department worked with a group of 5-year-old girls ken find out what. Earring Magic Ken, also known as " Gay Ken " and " Fey Ken ", [1] is a model of the Ken doll introduced by Mattel in as a companion to its Earring Magic Barbie figure, one of five dolls in the Earring Magic Barbie line.

[2][3] The doll is notable for accidentally gay ken doll a toy craze among gay men (including some claims that it was the highest selling Ken doll of all time) and for the controversy. The doll was called Earring Magic Ken, which is the absolute best name for an accidentally gay doll. And he is every ’90s queer stereotype in a chiseled hunk of plastic.

And clearly, no one cared about Earring Magic Barbie because Earring Magic Ken ended up turning into a gay icon and became one of Mattel’s most profitable dolls! So this Pride month, let’s take a look at how Mattel accidentally created a doll representing the LGBTQ+. Barbie was at the height of her popularity in the early s.

How Barbie’s Boyfriend Ken Became an Accidental Gay Icon The toy company Mattel introduced the doll Earring Magic Ken in the accidentally gay s as one of six dolls in the Earring Magic Barbie collection. Sign me up. Already have a WordPress. In an effort to increase sales of Ken dolls in the early '90s, Mattel's research department worked with a group of 5-year-old girls to find out what might make them more likely to nag their parents to buy one.

And in a form of code, specific placements on clothing could imply certain sexual preferences among the gay crowd; you can read Savage's more detailed account of the nuances in the Chicago Reader's archives. This is nothing new. InMattel had Barbie and Ken split up. Mobile Newsletter banner close. Mattel, who has never been pleased about this connection, rushed to discontinue the dolls.

Who knew Barbie was such a cool girlfriend? Today, Magic Earring Ken lives on as a meme, doll more recent interpretations of the character have had a distinctly gay flavour: take Toy Story 3where a prissy, preening Ken boasts about his fabulous walk-in closet and treats Barbie to a catwalk performance set to a song by Chic. We reached out to Mattel for comment multiple times — to find out just how well the doll sold and whether it dolls the No.

Instead, Mattel hastily discontinued and recalled the product — despite the fact that, commercially speaking, it was a roaring success. At the end of it all, Savage and even I do not believe that the doll was anything but a happy and hilariously disastrous accident.

Why was earring magic ken discontinued

Why Mattel Recalled Earring Magic Ken As Savage outlined back in the s, the chrome metal ring used as a sex toy was also worn as a fashion accessory among certain subsets of the queer community. And many, many people wore them accidentally gay their necks as a necklace. Chrome cock ring necklace and all. Already, the image has inspired scores of memes based on the simple premise that Ken looks, well, kind of ken doll. Now That's Fascinating.

Wait, what?? And an earring, and tight pants. We do. For several years, Barbie replaced Ken with an Australian surfer named Blaine. A post shared by mkultralaser seandehey. Earring Magic Ken became the best-selling Ken doll of the early 90s due to its showy element. Loading Comments Mattel has been manufacturing its Barbie dolls since The Earring Magic line of Barbie dolls included several versions of Barbie as well as the characters Midge, Ken, and others not pictured.