{"id":2083,"date":"2004-02-12T23:45:53","date_gmt":"2004-02-13T03:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/dbnews\/2004\/02\/12\/is-nothing-sacred-barbie-and-ken-split"},"modified":"2004-02-12T23:45:53","modified_gmt":"2004-02-13T03:45:53","slug":"is-nothing-sacred-barbie-and-ken-split","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/2004\/02\/12\/is-nothing-sacred-barbie-and-ken-split\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Nothing Sacred – Barbie and Ken Split"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n
\n

To
\n an entire generation of girls growing up in America (and probably more
\n than a few boys) Barbie and Ken were the true "American Idols". It’s
\n tough learning one’s idols are human, but Barbie and Ken’s employer,
\n Mattel, Inc. dropped a bombshell today: America’s #1 Plastic Fantastic
\n Couple was definitely splitsville!! Who knew? <\/em><\/p>\n

Rumors of New York call girls (for him) and Australian surfers (for
\n her) abound. Who best to dig up the dirt than our experts in infidelity,
\n the French!<\/em><\/p>\n

NEW
\n YORK (AFP) – Ken and Barbie, the Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward of the
\n doll world, have split after four decades of ageless romance, toymaker
\n Mattel announced. <\/p>\n

Amid rumours of another man in Barbie’s life, Mattel’s vice president
\n of marketing, Russell Arons, told reporters that Ken and Barbie felt
\n it was "time to spend
\nsome quality time — apart."<\/p>\n

"In the fall, you may see another guy show up," Arons said, while adding
\nthat the once-perfect couple remained "good friends."<\/p>\n

The announcement provided a quirky twist to the old adage of any publicity being
\ngood publicity, at a time when Barbie’s dominant position in the doll market
\nis looking vulnerable.
\nWhile worldwide gross sales for Mattel brands reflected two percent growth in
\nthe fourth quarter, Barbie brand sales slid five percent, and 25 percent domestically.<\/p>\n

Since vamping up the store shelves in 1959 with her buxom chest, wasp waist a
\nnd
\nslender hips, more than one billion Barbie dolls have been sold in 150 countries.
\nKen arrived on the scene in 1961.<\/p>\n

from AFP<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To an entire generation of girls growing up in America (and probably more than a few boys) Barbie and Ken were the true "American Idols". It’s tough learning one’s idols are human, but Barbie and Ken’s employer, Mattel, Inc. dropped a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1443],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-esl-links"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}