The future of gay Barbie dolls and the history of Earring Magic Ken
Earring Magic Ken, a doll that quickly became an accidental gay icon.Earring Magic Ken was inspired by a survey of young girls who said they wanted a “cooler” and more fashionable Ken doll.
Seemingly without much hesitation, Mattel took that feedback and created a doll with bleached quiff hair, tight jeans, a mesh shirt, a leather vest, and an infamous earring.Because he fit nearly every single early-90s gay stereotype, conversations grew around Ken’s sexuality and he quickly became a highly sought-after Barbie especially among gay men—resulting in the doll selling out by Christmastime shortly after its debut.“We’re not in the business of putting c*ck rings into the hands of little girls!” Lisa McKendall, Mattel’s head of marketing and communications, said at the time.Fast forward to today and we have the new Barbie movie from Greta Gerwig is set to hit theaters on July 21, 2023.
We’re already obsessed with its extremely campy trailers and that its cast features multiple LGBTQ+ actors including Hari Nef, Scott Evans, and Kate McKinnon.Not to mention the fab new ads highlighting the cast and characters that quickly went viral on social media:Meet our Barbies and Kens ?#BarbieTheMovie pic.twitter.com/KO2pwszXNJpic.twitter.com/3m0xYN7RYCpic.twitter.com/K5ND3g8pQpWith the Barbie movie’s release of a Barbie selfie generator powered by AI for anyone who wants to create their own versions of their fun Barbie ads above, we just HAD to explore the possibilities of AI-generated Barbies for ourselves…and let’s just say, the results are pretty amazing!There you have it, folks.
A brief glimpse into the history of Earring Magic Ken and what LGBTQ+ Barbie dolls might look like in the future.While we can’t predict the future of queer.
