At the 2024 Oscars, Ryan Gosling, reprising his role as Ken in Greta Gerwig\u2019s 2023 movie \u201cBarbie,\u201d donned a bedazzled pink suit and belted the ballad \u201cI\u2019m Just Ken.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just Ken, anywhere else I\u2019d be a 10,\u201d the actor sang. \u201cIs it my destiny to live and die a life of blond fragility?\u201d <\/p>\n
Barbie\u2019s needy male counterpart, it turns out, is not \u201cjust Ken.\u201d His full name is Kenneth Sean Carson, according to Mattel, which says the doll saw a uptick in popularity in the years following the hit movie\u2019s release. <\/p>\n
Ahead of Ken\u2019s 65th birthday, the El Segundo-based toy giant shared a laundry list of niche biographical details about the doll, including his official \u201cbirthday\u201d \u2014 March 11, 1961, making him a Pisces \u2014 as well as his relationship history with Barbie.<\/p>\n
The company said in a statement<\/a> Monday that Ken has \u201cexperienced a resurgence in recent years.\u201d<\/p>\n A Mattel spokesperson cited the \u201cBarbie\u201d movie as a driving factor, as it showed a \u201cdifferent side\u201d of Ken. In a meta move, the company later in 2023 released Ken dolls modeled after Ryan Gosling\u2019s portrayal<\/a> of Ken.<\/p>\n The \u201cKenbassador\u201d line launched last year was a \u201cgreat success,\u201d the spokesperson said. The first product in that toy series was a $75 doll modeled after basketball player LeBron James<\/a> released in April. <\/p>\n Mattel says it does not break out sales of Ken dolls, but on average, girls have one Ken doll for every seven Barbies they own. <\/p>\n Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie, named the original doll after her daughter, Barbara. The glamorous doll, unique in that it depicted a grown woman rather than a baby, was an instant hit when it debuted at the New York Toy Fair in 1959. Barbie has significantly evolved<\/a> in the decades since. Recent additions include Barbies with Type 1 diabetes<\/a> and another with autism<\/a>. <\/p>\n The Ken doll, created in 1961, was named after Handler\u2019s son, Kenneth. He featured molded hair, wore red swim trunks and carried a yellow towel. <\/p>\n Kenneth Handler told The Times in a 1989 story<\/a> that there were few similarities between him and the doll named after him. He died in 1994.<\/p>\n \u201cKen doll is Malibu,\u201d he said. \u201cHe goes to the beach and surfs. He is all these perfect American things.\u201d <\/p>\n But when Kenneth Handler was at Hamilton High School in Beverlywood, he \u201cplayed the piano and went to movies with subtitles.\u201d He continued, \u201cI was a nerd \u2014 a real nerd. All the girls thought I was a jerk.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Barbie, Ken dabbled in many different careers over the decades. There have been doctor, pilot, tennis player, firefighter, lifeguard, barista and even Olympic skier Kens, among many others. In 2006, he received a \u201cmid-life makeover\u201d from celebrity stylist Phillip Bloch.<\/p>\n According to the company, Ken and Barbie \u201cmet\u201d on the set of their first television commercial in 1961 and soon began dating. After more than four decades, the doll couple broke up in 2004, but reunited in 2011. <\/p>\n Mattel was founded by Ruth Handler; her husband, Elliot Handler; and Harold \u201cMatt\u201d Matson in 1945 in a Los Angeles garage. The toy maker became a publicly traded company in 1960. <\/p>\n Mattel, which also owns Fisher-Price and Hot Wheels, wrote in its October Securities and Exchange Commission filing<\/a> that \u201cindustry-wide shifts in retailer ordering patterns\u201d pushed its third quarter net sales down 6%. <\/p>\n