The New York Times tells of upcoming Mad Men Barbie dolls — Don and Betty Draper, Joan Holloway and Roger Sterling — which will be sold in July to promote the show's fourth season.
“ ‘Mad Men’ represents so beautifully the universe that created Barbie,” said Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University, because the series is about the selling of the American consumer society.
The personification of Betty Draper as Barbie is particularly resonant, Mr. Thompson said, because she represents “the wife who lives in her dream house whose soul is eaten away.”
“I have this fantasy of an 8-year-old getting a set” of the dolls, he added, “and saying: ‘Mom, can Chelsea come over? We want to play “The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.” I’m going to be the organization man, and she’s going to be the soulless drone.’ ”
Yes, there'll be no Sal (bellhop sold separately), Pete and Trudy (swank apartment sold separately), Peggy (with removeable baby), Freddy (with genuine pants-wetting action), Kurt and Smitty, Paul (with removeable beard and action kerchief) or Lois with a John Deere.
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