MAD-MEN-BARBIE

Mattel will create a limited edition of “Mad Men”-inspired Barbie and Ken dolls, according to the New York Times. Although the expensive ($74.95) toys will be aimed more at the adult collectors’ market, the dolls unfortunately will NOT come with accessories like cigarettes and martini glasses.

Of course, since this is from the New York Times, no article would be complete without a quote from a professor at a northeastern university:

“‘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.”

“Read this brilliant insight — and more! — in my essay on consumerism that will be published in a periodical read by no one until I assign it to my students next semester.”

“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, how very droll. The wine and cheese parties this guy has must be off the f*ckin hook. “So I said, ‘I must get out of these wet clothes and into a dry martini!’”

dry-martini