COMMENTARY | William and Kate aren’t Ken and Barbie by any means. Mattel is comparing the real life prince and princess to two working class stiff dolls. Sure, Kate was in the working class before she stepped up into royalty. Now she lives the real life fairy tale like Cinderella more so than Barbie.
Before making such a comparative leap, Mattel should have done their research with Disney. By doing so, the company could have created a whole line for the dolls, kept the cost down, and gave every little girl a new dream world to play in.
William has never been considered a working stiff unlike Ken. So why is Mattel comparing William and Kate to Ken and Barbie? It’s also offensive to put them in the same league as Edward and Bella of “Twilight.”
If Mattel really wanted to go all out with the release of the royal couple and the fairy tale wedding, they should have went with Cinderella and Prince Charming. This would have made more sense in the fairy tale world.
Another thing Mattel should have avoided is capitalizing on the Barbie line. Neither of these dolls nor the “Twilight” dolls are remotely close to Barbie and Ken. Sure they could have used the molds for the two most popular Mattel dolls. No new lines of dolls from real life or movies will ever replace the true princess and prince of the Mattel line of dolls.
Then there’s when the dolls will be released. Releasing the comparative dolls in April when those who have to pay their taxes isn’t a smart business move. The second boneheaded move is charging $100 for the plastic couple.
It has been suggested to use them as cake toppers. I can see any collector cringing at that idea. A true collector wouldn’t remove the dolls from the box. By doing so would devalue the investment.
It would seem that a royal style wedding a year after the original would have been done to death. This year’s wedding season will be the true tale of this suggested use of the William and Kate dolls as a wedding topper.