Trailer Trash Barbie just hit the big time.
As news organizations nationwide picked up on the story of a Castro shop selling "anti-Barbies," hundreds of wanna-be customers are scrambling to obtain one of the altered icons.
"If I had 2,000 of them in stock, I would have sold them all," said Bill Tull, owner of the In-jean-ious store on Castro Street. He has begun placing customers' names on a waiting list. "I am awe-struck at how this has taken off."
After The Examiner reported on the popularity of Trailer Trash Barbie, Carrie Barbie, Exorcist Barbie, Big Dyke Barbie, Hooker Barbie and Drag Queen Barbie (really Ken in a Barbie ensemble), People magazine called.
Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh weighed in on the subject. Court TV used the Barbie business to examine trademark infringement.
The one entity the store has not heard from is Mattel, maker of the plastic, platinum-blond bubblehead who simultaneously inspires utter loyalty and unbridled loathing.
But Tull said he and the anti-Barbie creator, a computer graphics designer who thus far has remained anonymous, planned to drop the direct use of the name "Barbie" because it ran afoul of Mattel's trademark.
Tull, who has hired an attorney, said he planned to approach the mainstream toy maker directly about the legality of purchasing Barbies in volume for "renovation" and resale.
The counter-culture sales leader remains Trailer Trash Barbie. This Barbie needs a root job, has a smoking habit, totes a baby on her hip and carries the slogan, "My Daddy Swears I'm the Best Kisser in the County."
Among the dozens of people who have contacted the store and the newspaper suggesting ideas for anti-Barbies, 12-year-old Erica Zipser of Maplewood, N.J., proposed Mormon Ken with four Barbie wives and a dozen children, and the dryly tasteless Homeless Barbie and Ken, who come with no accessories whatsoever.
And Dennis Kuby of Berkeley envisioned Sister Mary Barbie in a black sequined habit who says nothing when you pull her string because she's taken a vow of silence, and Roseanne Barbie, who "shows what happens after Barbie graduates from high school, marries too young and eats too much."
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