There was little fuss made over Ken’s 35th birthday Wednesday. No balloons, no streamers, not even a cake.
So goes the life of Barbie’s main man.
Always in the shadow of his long-legged girlfriend, poor Ken trails Barbie in design styles, sales and popularity among young consumers.
Ken, still trim and fit as he inches toward middle age, doesn’t even have a job.
While Barbie has pursued many vocations in her 37 years, including the medical field and music industry, Ken gets just a couple of outfits to don while dreaming of becoming a doctor or police officer.
“Ken has always and forever been an accessory to Barbie,” said Kert Hoogstraat, a local Barbie collector. “He is marketed as Barbie’s boyfriend. He’s an auxiliary item to go along with Barbie.”
“He’s never had an identity of his own,” said Hoogstraat, who works in the Barbie department at FAO Schwarz toy store, which he estimates sells 15 Barbie dolls for every one Ken doll.
Hoogstraat complains that the dozens of Barbie styles far outnumber the meager four for Ken.
Ken probably looks his best as “Shavin’ Fun Ken,” the most recent design. A blond Ken, with soft, rooted hair, comes with shaving cream and a foam razor, which wipes away his heat-sensitive “beard” when dipped in warm water.
A new, more hip version of the bearded Ken will be on the market later this year as “Cool Shavin’ Ken,” and will include a pretend bottle of Old Spice after shave lotion.
Attempts to improve Ken’s image have recently been stepped up, said Lisa McKendall, spokeswoman for Mattel Inc. She said Ken dolls these days have “kind of a Melrose Place style to them.”
“He needs to be cooler, first of all, to play a bigger role in Barbie’s world,” said McKendall, adding that Ken even got his first solo television commercial last year.
When Ken was first introduced in 1961, the lanky blond with long unbending arms probably would have had sand kicked in his face by a buff, jointed GI Joe if he tried hanging out at the Barbie pool.
Now it would be tough to mess with Ken, who has six-pack abdominal muscles and bulging biceps.
His plastic hair has been replaced with rooted hair. “Great Date Ken” has big, poofy brown hair flipped back over his head. His black tuxedo and shiny pastel bow tie match the outfit of “Great Date Barbie,” for whom he carries flowers.
Another Ken design, “Winter Sports Ken,” bends at the joints for fuller enjoyment of winter activities and comes with a snow board and skis. “Baywatch Ken,” an African-American doll, comes with a plastic Jet-Ski.
Four-year-old Maggie Seel has never even asked for a Ken doll, according to her parents, Joe and Laurie Seel, who were shopping Wednesday for Barbie products.
“If she wanted a Ken, I’d buy her a GI Joe,” Joe Seel said. “Ken’s not macho enough.”
