Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Mattel Gives Ken Doll A Makeover: Heavy-Set, Cornrows, Man Bun, 'Ethnically Diverse'
CBS News ^

Posted on 06/20/2017 12:50:08 PM PDT by drewh

CBS Local– Mattel, the makers of the famous Barbie and Ken dolls, decided to shake up the Ken doll’s previous image. Typically he’d be portrayed as a “nice guy,” as Mattel put it, with wavy blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. He would have had hardly an ounce of body fat if scaled onto a real human.

He’s the guy Barbie would take home to mom to compliment her pot roast and taste in cardigans. But he’s vanilla no more: Mattel has released a line of 15 new and improved Ken dolls.

ADVERTISING

Diverse beyond just their ethnicity, these new Kens come in all shapes, sizes and haircuts. One even has a man bun. A tank top is involved. They’re meant to better depict Ken to mirror this generation.

“By continuing to expand our product line, we are redefining what a Barbie or Ken doll looks like to this generation,” Lisa McKnight, Barbie’s senior vice president and general manager, said in a press release. “Evolving Ken was a natural evolution for the brand and allows girls to further personalize the role they want him to play in Barbie’s world.”

Ken used to be an afterthought and a man that was just the aforementioned “nice guy” to have alongside Barbie. After all, she needed a groom for the weddings, someone in the passenger seat of the Barbie dream car, and an audience for all those snappy outfits.

“In the past Ken was really viewed as more of an accessory in Barbie’s world, to support the narrative of whatever was happening with the girls,” said Michael Shore, Mattel’s head of global consumer insights, via GQ.

Now, Ken is his own man with a persona of his own and is finally ready to step out from behind Barbie’s picture-perfect shadow.

(Excerpt) Read more at detroit.cbslocal.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: diversity; dolls; manbun; mattel; metrosexuals; toys
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-97 next last
To: Slyfox
You haven't achieved maximum diversity without this.
41 posted on 06/20/2017 1:19:24 PM PDT by Johnny Diamond
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Slyfox

“It has already been whacked off.”

So...WWLD with THAT?”

What Would Laz Do?


42 posted on 06/20/2017 1:20:38 PM PDT by BBB333 (The Power Of Trump Compels You!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: drewh

I still laugh remembering the cartoon from years ago with some little girl screaming to mom that her brother was dressing his Alien doll with her Barbie doll’s wardrobe.


43 posted on 06/20/2017 1:20:59 PM PDT by doorgunner69
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: drewh

Is there a transgender Ken, with removable schmeckel for when he is transitioning?
A transgender Barbie, with removable boobies and attachable dickie?
Even better, a spectrum KenBarbie, that constantly moves between the 58 genders, changing every day.


44 posted on 06/20/2017 1:25:40 PM PDT by I want the USA back (Le Pen: "Islamism is a totalitarian ideology that has declared war on our nation, on civilization.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: detective

My Barbies always preferred the manlier GI Joe.


45 posted on 06/20/2017 1:27:55 PM PDT by AmericanMermaid
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: ponygirl
A little STORY about GI Joe. (Read it to the end.)
46 posted on 06/20/2017 1:28:52 PM PDT by NorthMountain (The Democrats ... have lost their grip on reality -DJT)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: drewh

From Ken doll to CUCK DOLL:

Pull the string and he’s he says, “mother f*cker”.


47 posted on 06/20/2017 1:31:54 PM PDT by gaijin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: detective
Man Bun Ken is a flaming homo and there are at least two others that look light in the loafers.

Will the liberal colleges be stocking their Safe Spaces with homo Ken dolls right alongside the Play-Doh® and the Little Guy's First Training Bra® ?


48 posted on 06/20/2017 1:32:23 PM PDT by Vlad The Inhaler (Best Long Term Prepper Tactic: Beat The Muslim Demographic Tsnami - Have Big Families)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: LydiaLong

“I find man buns loathsome.”

After meeting several men thusly equipped I now take the man bun to mean, unemployed or lowly employed and living at home.


49 posted on 06/20/2017 1:32:29 PM PDT by Gen.Blather
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Disambiguator

And earrings.


50 posted on 06/20/2017 1:32:32 PM PDT by ilovesarah2012
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: LydiaLong

What is funny about Mattel doing the man bun is that again they are behind the times. I think man buns are out after hitting big 2 years ago. However, changing up Ken to get more buyers is a great capitalistic approach and wish them well. I have their stock so I am biased.


51 posted on 06/20/2017 1:33:01 PM PDT by napscoordinator (Trump/Hunter, jr for President/Vice President 2016)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: drewh

I was never a Barbie fan. When I did get one, we’d blow her up with firecrackers.


52 posted on 06/20/2017 1:33:42 PM PDT by ilovesarah2012
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: drewh

Any tattoos?


53 posted on 06/20/2017 1:35:24 PM PDT by MHT (,`)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: drewh

I bought my daughter the most expensive Barbie they had 20 years ago. Divorced Barbie. It came with Ken’s car, Ken’s house, Ken’s..........


54 posted on 06/20/2017 1:37:43 PM PDT by o-n-money (We should rename California to Newer Mexico.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NorthMountain

I dont know the joke but I do know that I refused to buy my girls Ken and instead bought GI Joes for Barbie to hang around eith. Ken always had sugar in his britches wnd I didnt want any of that leaking on to my girls.


55 posted on 06/20/2017 1:38:07 PM PDT by gnarledmaw (Hive minded liberals worship leaders, sovereign conservatives elect servants.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Responsibility2nd

Omg I thought I was the only person who noticed this unbelievably awful man-bum, sweater, skinny-jean, hipster saying “bad mama jamma” in that car commercial. It’s so bad it must be parody, right?


56 posted on 06/20/2017 1:42:48 PM PDT by monkeybrau
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: detective

“The new Ken dolls all look gay.”

They always did.

But little girls shouldn’t know anything about that, and in the past they didn’t.


57 posted on 06/20/2017 1:42:52 PM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: ponygirl

I think GI Joe also had an M16, a Bowie knife and lots of other cool gear like canteens and grenades. Ken may have had a convertible car, but so did Barbie.


58 posted on 06/20/2017 1:46:06 PM PDT by Cecily
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: ponygirl
My Barbies had a thing for bad boys. Joe had Kung-Fu grip and a motorcycle. And sometimes when he and Barbie had a date, he would show up at her beach house riding the wooden elephant my dad had brought back from Thailand. Ken couldn't compete with that.

In a thread of memorable posts, this is the one I'll remember. LMAO.

We'd have made a match. My GI Joe's always had a thing for hot crazy chicks.

59 posted on 06/20/2017 1:53:09 PM PDT by TontoKowalski (You can call me "Dick.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: monkeybrau
Fun Stuff...

Guy Calling Chevy Equinox A 'Bad Mamma Jamma' In That 'Real People' Ad Is Everything Wrong With Everything

Rebuttal...

A Response to Jalopnik from ‘The Bad Mamma Jamma Guy’ in the Chevy Ad

 

 

60 posted on 06/20/2017 1:53:19 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-97 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson