Earring Magic Ken is a model of the Ken doll introduced by Mattel

Mattel

Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...

 in 1993 as a companion to its Earring Magic Barbie figure, one of six dolls in the Earring Magic Barbie line. This iteration of the Ken doll featured an updated look, including blonde highlights in its traditionally brown hair, outfits including purple shirt, lavender vest, a necklace with a circular charm and, as the name indicates, an earring in its left ear.

Mattel had conducted a survey of girls asking if Ken should be retained as Barbie's boyfriend or whether a new doll should be introduced in that role. Survey results indicated that girls wanted Ken kept but wanted him to look "cooler." The redesigned Ken was the result. Observers quickly noted the resemblance of Earring Magic Ken to a stereotypical gay man, from the purple clothes to the earring to the necklace, which was described as a "chrome cock ring

Cock ring

A cock ring, or cockring, is a ring that is placed around a man's penis, usually at the base, primarily to slow the flow of blood from the erect penile tissue, thus maintaining erection for a much longer period of time....

." Kitsch

Kitsch

Kitsch is a form of art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value. The concept is associated with the deliberate use of elements that may be thought of as cultural icons while making cheap mass-produced objects that...

-minded gay men bought the doll in record numbers, making Earring Magic Ken the best-selling Ken model in Mattel's history. Despite the commercial success of the doll, public criticism from gay-community commentators such as Dan Savage (in the gay-oriented newspaper The Stranger) led Mattel to discontinue Earring Magic Ken and recall the doll from stores.