Awash in Pink, Everyone Wants a Piece of the ‘Barbie’ Movie Marketing Mania 

A woman holds a Barbie doll after watching the "Barbie" film at the SM North Edsa in Quezon City on July 19, 2023. (AFP)
A woman holds a Barbie doll after watching the "Barbie" film at the SM North Edsa in Quezon City on July 19, 2023. (AFP)
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Awash in Pink, Everyone Wants a Piece of the ‘Barbie’ Movie Marketing Mania 

A woman holds a Barbie doll after watching the "Barbie" film at the SM North Edsa in Quezon City on July 19, 2023. (AFP)
A woman holds a Barbie doll after watching the "Barbie" film at the SM North Edsa in Quezon City on July 19, 2023. (AFP)

Pink sauce on that Burger King burger? What about "Barbie-fying" your pet with sweaters and beds with Barbie motifs? If that's too low-brow, perhaps you'd be interested in hot pink Barbie monogrammed knit leggings by luxury designer Balmain instead, selling at Neiman Marcus for a cool $2,150.

Welcome to the wonderful and weird world of "Barbie" movie marketing.

Ahead of Friday's US release of the "Barbie" movie, parent company Mattel has created a product marketing blitz with more than 100 brands plastering pink everywhere.

There are pink benches at bus stops and pink clothing displayed in store windows. Microsoft's XBox has come up with a Barbie console series and HGTV is hosting a four-part Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge.

And then there are all the unofficial collaborators trying to grab a piece of Barbie craze. Restaurants across the country are offering special pink cocktails, while interior decorators are showing options like vibrant pink backsplashes to "Barbiefy" your kitchen.

Even the organization I Support the Girls — a nonprofit that has provided 22 million bras and menstrual hygiene products to homeless people, refugees and immigrants — is creating a social media campaign around menstrual periods using Barbie and having volunteers create miniature packages of Barbie-sized menstrual pads and tampons as teaching tools.

"The capability to share stories and knowledge through playing with Barbie is what made us realize we need to jump on this pop culture Barbie bandwagon," said Dana Marlowe, founder and executive of I Support the Girls. "If you can see yourself in a toy or in a doll, we want to also make sure that we’re raising awareness about bras and and clean underwear and the like."

Some experts say all the marketing beyond the movie is only good for the 64-year-old brand, helping to attract multi-generations of fans.

"When a brand owns something as iconic as the color pink, it's good news and bad news," said Marc Rosenberg, a Chicago-based toy consultant who led the global marketing teams for Hasbro's brands like Furby, GigaPets, and Hit Clips. "In this case, I think it’s all good news. Everyone in the world wants a piece of pink now."

But pundits also say it's going to be hard for many of the products to stand out when the world is awash in pink.

"There is such a stampede toward this that most people are going to get stepped on and will not be noticed," said Allen Adamson, co-founder of marketing consultancy Metaforce, noting he believes there will be more losers than winners.

For some shoppers like Hollie Krause of Mahwah, New Jersey, Barbie pink blitz that ramped up since June is already getting too much.

Krause, 31, said that she loved her Barbie dolls growing up and had about 20 of them along with a Barbie Dreamhouse. So when some of the merchandise started to roll in earlier this year, she bought Barbie-themed pajamas, a Barbie T-shirt, Barbie-trademarked pink lemonade, along with some other pink outfits.

Now she's feeling overwhelmed.

"Barbie is supposed to be for everyone, but these nostalgic collaborations should feel a little bit more unique or a little bit more creative," said Krause, who plans to focus on limited edition items.

Barbie's first live action movie, an homage to the doll with some biting satire, comes at a time when Barbie sales have been up and down after slumping from 2012 to 2015, when it faced stiff competition from other dolls and was under attack for pushing unrealistic beauty standards to girls and lost some relevance. It enjoyed a big bump in sales during the depths of the pandemic when parents were looking to entertain their children.

Barbie now accounts for one-third of Mattel's revenue and it has been diversifying the dolls with more skin tones and versions with prosthetic legs, wheelchairs and hearing aids. This year, it unveiled its first Down Syndrome doll.

As a result, according to market research firm Circana, Barbie has remained the top fashion doll for the past four years starting in 2019 and through June of this year in the US as well in the combined 12 countries that Circana tracks.

So far, product marketing around the movie has done well.

Mattel's Barbie that was specifically made for the movie and is dressed in a pink gingham dress, is No. 1 in sales for dolls and for the pre-school dolls and dollhouse category sold on Amazon, according to the retailer's website.

Neiman Marcus noted that it launched its exclusive Barbie collaboration with Balmain last year and sold out of many items in the first few days. Based on the success of last year’s collaboration and the current Barbiecore cultural phenomenon, it has reissued the collection starting July 10, the retailer said.

Then there's the mixed social media reviews for the "Pink Burger" offered by Burger King’s franchisee in Brazil. It's offering a slice of melted cheese, bacon and a smoky-flavored hot pink sauce. The Pink Burger comes in a Barbie Combo, which also features French fries (dubbed "Ken’s Potatoes"), a pink shake and a pink-frosted donut.

"Has BK completely lost its creativity or is just too lazy to think of something better?" said one comment on Burger King Brazil's Instagram account.

Restaurant Brands noted it is a limited-time partnership sold exclusively in the Brazil market and will not be available in the United States nor elsewhere.



Gaga, Green Day, Post Malone Primed to Headline Sweltering Coachella

Lady Gaga. (AFP/Getty Images)
Lady Gaga. (AFP/Getty Images)
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Gaga, Green Day, Post Malone Primed to Headline Sweltering Coachella

Lady Gaga. (AFP/Getty Images)
Lady Gaga. (AFP/Getty Images)

Music fans were descending on California's Coachella Valley for the premier arts festival that begins Friday and features headliners Lady Gaga, Green Day and Post Malone.

The opening day promises to be a scorcher, quite literally; a dome of high pressure is triggering a mini heat wave in southern California, with meteorologists predicting the temperature could crack 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius).

Organizers are urging the tens of thousands expected to arrive at the poorly shaded festival grounds to stay hydrated and use sunscreen as they gather to see other day-one lineup highlights including rapper Missy Elliott, Australian electropop band Parcels, and a rare stateside appearance from British punk ravers The Prodigy.

The sprawling desert weekend marks the unofficial start of music festival season, which Lady Gaga is priming to kick off with a bang. Fresh off the release of her latest album "Mayhem," the pop superstar has vowed "a massive night of chaos."

"Can't wait to hear you all singalong and dance dance DANCE till we drop," she posted when the lineup was announced.

South African star Tyla is also slated to perform Friday, one year after an injury forced her to pull out of the 2024 festival.

"Had many opportunities to go but swore to myself that the first time I go to Coachella, imma be performing... and look now!" she wrote on X when the lineups were announced last year.

And Blackpink's Lisa -- fresh off a role in HBO's hit show "White Lotus" -- will perform on her own Friday night, having twice taken the Coachella stage with her bandmates.

Later in the weekend Charli XCX is expected to turn the grounds her signature "brat" green, after a blockbuster year that saw her latest album propel her to new echelons of fame.

Travis Scott will play a special guest slot following Green Day's Saturday set, years after the hip-hop performer was slated to headline the 2020 festival, which was ultimately scrapped due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

- Rock revival -

Fresh off a Grammy win, Venezuelan band Rawayana is also primed to play a top slot on Saturday.

And celebrity conductor Gustavo Dudamel notably will lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a sunset concert.

There have been orchestral performances at Coachella before -- film composers Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer were showcased over the past decade -- but Saturday's performance will be the first time a major professional orchestra has played there.

Hip-hop superstar Megan Thee Stallion will helm the main stage Sunday ahead of Post Malone's headlining performance, with Ty Dolla $ign also set to perform.

Also on Sunday French duo Polo & Pan will bring their tropicalia-infused electro set back to the Coachella Valley.

German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk are another draw, as are two of the 2025 Best New Artist Grammy nominees, Shaboozey and Benson Boone.

And while Coachella has leaned decidedly pop over the past decade, the 2025 edition will get back to the festival's rock roots.

Along with Green Day, rock acts including The Go-Gos, the original Misfits, Jimmy Eat World, and cult punk legends the Circle Jerks are slated to play.

"In this world gone sideways we know one thing for certain - rock 'n' roll is forever, and its spirit is needed now more than ever," said Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong earlier this year in Billboard.

Coachella 2025 will take place on April 11-13 and 18-20.