#6: What About the Boys?
To this day, dolls are still largely associated with little girls, not little boys. But who’s to say that little boys also don’t want to play with these types of toys? It might be shocking to some to know that the Ken doll has been around much longer than you think and wasn’t always intended to be a toy just for girls…
Barbie’s beau, Ken Carson, was introduced to the world in 1961 after Mattel had seen so much success with their original female doll. When Mattel first released the Ken doll, they had hoped that boys would be interested in playing with the toys just as the girls were. However, this particular marketing method never really caught on. But the girls sure did love creating their fantasy world with Barbie and Ken.