Meet The New Broader, Man Bun Wearing, Pan-Racial Ken.

As more millennials have children, the way the old Barbie brand was being marketed, it wasn’t meeting young parents’ values and expectations. Check out Ken's new diverse look.

Barbie's Bae, Ken Gets A New Look

Last year, Mattel rebooted their Barbie doll and gave them a much need makeover; about time right!? The new and improved Barbie dolls are diverse; they’re available in tall or petite sizes, slim or curvy. You can also find them in a wide range of hair colors, different hair textures, and skin tones.

It was only a matter of time that, Ken, also known as Barbie’s bae received a makeover as well. Ken, was known to be the” all-American nice guy.” Ken used to be the first guy that a little girl would see without clothes. The only problem was that girls would grow up to expect every guy to have washboard abs, like the Olympic swimmer, Ryan Lochte. I mean who wouldn't mind Ryan Lochte abs? Most people wouldn’t but at the end of the day, it is not realistic. In reality, we know that just like women, men come in all shapes and sizes and that’s okay.

Mattel has re-imagined Ken, who has been marketed like the perfect all-American guy for years. In the past decades, Mattel was teaching children that Barbie and Ken were white. That they were tall, they were unrealistically fit and just like their features, they’re life was perfect as well. Yes, they might’ve had friends who had other ethnicities or different hair colors, but at the end of the day, they weren’t Barbie and Ken.

Hand-out / Mattel

Well, Ken doesn’t have to look like a total frat dude anymore. Meet the new, diversified Ken. He comes in three different sizes, an original size, a slimmer size and one with a broader physique. The new Ken will also come in eight different hair colors, nine hairstyles and seven different skin tones. Like I mentioned before, the cool part about this is that this will be THE KEN, not his friend Steve, but the actual Ken. Ken isn’t Barbie’s accessory anymore, he is more interesting, and he’s a fashionista, he may be mysterious or he may the guy that shop organic at whole foods.

I love this attempt that Mattel is doing to change the way children think. As more millennials have children, the way the old Barbie brand was being marketed it wasn’t meeting young parents’ values. At the end of the day, children don’t really care about what color their dolls are or what size they are. This new marketing strategy is geared more towards parents, the ones who buy the toys, who are trying to diverge from elitism and who are supportive of different races.

Mattel, the toymaker basically had two choices says GQ, “ upend the entire Barbie universe by promoting all her friends to equal status or keep Barbie and Ken at the center of it and just make everyone—regardless of race, shape, or hairstyle—Barbie and Ken.”

It looks like they made a great choice by re-branding Barbie and designing the toys to meet 21st century standards.