Gay Bob is a doll created in 1977 and billed as the world's first openly gay doll. Bob was created by former advertising executive Harvey Rosenberg and marketed through his company, Gizmo Development. Gay Bob was bestowed with an Esquire magazine "Dubious Achievement Award" for 1978.
HARVEY ROSEMBERG and DOLLS
Bob stands 13 inches tall and was presented clothed in a flannel shirt, tight jeans and cowboy boots. He has one ear pierced. Bob's packaging box is decorated like a closet and included a catalog from which additional outfits could be ordered. Creator Rosenberg described the doll as resembling a cross between Paul Newman and Robert Redford.
Where as Ken was sexless, Gay Bob was anatomically correct. His little plastic weener was cursed to be flaccid through out eternity, but it still sure beats being smooth in the crotch.
Part of the gimmick was that Gay Bob was packaged in a box that resembled a closet... so he could "come out of the closet." So Gay Bob helped to increase gay visibility in the pop culture of the late 1970's; a time that wasn't at all gay friendly.
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