Evil tongues claim that the box-office hit Barbie by director Greta Gerwig is feminist agitprop or that it is an outrageous full-length commercial for the American toy company Mattel. And in both respects, they are right to some extent – except that there is nothing wrong with that. The makers of Barbie have never hidden their sympathy for the feminist movement, and the marketing of their most famous brand has evolved over time in a direction that makes a venture such as the discussed film not only expected but eminently logical. Whether Barbie is a great film or not is up to the judgment of film critics and, more importantly, each individual viewer. What cannot be denied, however, is that it is an absolutely brilliant piece of marketing thanks to which Mattel has managed to implement a textbook example of rebranding to benefit from for many years to come.
It will be difficult not to associate Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling with the roles of Barbie and Ken. Quite rightly, they will be the embodiment of these pop culture icons for those generations who are just getting acquainted with Mattel’s portfolio. In Gosling’s case, some critics have even said that this is his best film role to date. So why would there be anything wrong with this form of advertising? There is virtually nothing wrong with it, as evidenced by Mattel’s approach to the entire production. The company plays an important role in the plot. A negative one. Essentially, it is taking the clichéd position of corporate Big Brother controlling every aspect of Barbie and Ken’s lives. In doing so, Mattel executives are both showing that satire is not alien to them but they are also confirming that they know exactly what added value Greta Gerwig’s film has for them.
Video: Barbie – Main Trailer (2023)
The Barbie brand has relied on marketing since the doll was first launched. There have been countless TV commercials or short films about the popular characters in the past - now the brand’s marketing presentation has been perfected with a feature film that has grossed over 155 million dollars globally in its first weekend in cinemas. But if you want to go to the cinema with the kids, think it over again. Barbie is essentially a story about marketing and its changes over time. While the story that unfolds on screen is downright fictional, set in a picturesque world and a striking colourful backdrop, in many ways, it is inspired by Barbie’s real history as part of the portfolio of a multinational corporation. And this is most evident when we realise how Barbie’s presentation has changed over time.
The whole story began in the mid-1960s. In the beginning, there was a little girl who liked to play with paper dolls...
TV PREMIERE PAR EXCELLENCE
Barbie first appeared on television screens in 1959. It was a television advertisement aired during the popular children’s show Mickey Mouse Club (the predecessor of today’s Mickey Mouse Clubhouse), which was Barbie’s world premiere. In fact, the idea for the iconic doll itself was born just a few years earlier in 1956 when Ruth Handler, co-founder of Mattel and spiritual mother of Barbie, visited Europe with her family. During the trip, her daughter took a liking to a German doll called Bild Lilli. Returning to the US with this evidence in hand, Ruth finally managed to convince her husband Elliot (the other co-founder of Mattel) to give the mass production of Barbie a chance. The doll was first unveiled at the New York International Toy Fair and 9 March is still officially considered Barbie’s birthday.
Video: Barbie – First Ever Commercial (1959)
From the beginning, Barbie was presented as a teenage fashion model. Mattel worked with expert fashion designer Charlotte Johnson to develop the doll’s black and white zebra print swimsuit set, and of course, the signature topknot ponytail hairstyle was not to be missed. Two variants were presented - children could get either the classic blonde Barbie or the brunette version. The dolls were produced mainly in Japan and according to official figures, over 350,000 of them were sold in the first year after their launch. However, the revolution in the toy market was not only product-based but also marketing-based.
Barbie was one of the first toys to rely on a massive TV campaign to boost sales. The first television advertisement mentioned above is in many ways a product of its time. There is no big action in the spot, it is more or less a showcase of a new product being offered for (from today’s perspective, a ridiculous) three dollars. Most of the time is spent summarising the reasons why Barbie is the best doll on the market and why you should definitely not hesitate to buy one. A great deal of emphasis is placed on the fact that her wardrobe will be expanding soon, which promises more variety in terms of keeping the children’s interest. The original musical backing, into which all the reasoning is woven, is not to be overlooked either. Barbie is portrayed in the presentation as an ideal role model - slim, stylish, and beautiful. The leitmotif of the whole campaign was the message that when every girl grows up, she will want to be like Barbie.
A MAN ENTERS THE SCENE
During the 1960s, the Barbie family expanded quite rapidly. Two years after Barbie’s launch, the company introduced her male counterpart in 1961 after comments that the doll was doomed to a life of solitude. This is how Ken was born who was also intended to be a phenomenon, yet Barbie’s popularity has relegated him to a kind of second place to this day. When you think about it, it makes sense - Barbie has had countless jobs in her lifetime (the most memorable ones include an astronaut who went to the moon, or a five-time candidate for President of the United States), so many people wonder where she finds the time to do it. This activeness has consigned Ken to the role of a shadow who must endure life in the background - a dynamic not unlike that of the former British royal couple Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip. But Barbie and Ken could never complain about the lack of relationship drama. They are not officially a couple nowadays, even though they have been dating for decades. Ken also had the honour of starring in a TV ad after his launch, only the first of many, of course. For logical reasons, Ken still holds a special position in the Barbie pantheon that none of their other friends threaten. Back in 1968, for example, Barbie’s friend Christie was introduced, the first ever Afro-American doll by Mattel. Unfortunately, however, she did not receive as much attention as Barbie and Ken, and today Christie is considered more of a historical memento that has a place in the Barbie lore but is not actively worked with.
Video: Barbie – First Ken Commercial Ever (1961)
COLOURFUL BEACH PARTY
In 1971, Barbie finally got a colour treatment on TV... and some tanning to boot. In fact, Mattel decided to come up with the perfect summer edition that year, and even in the TV spot, Barbie could hardly have gone to a more iconic location than California’s Malibu Beach. The presentation itself is again simple - kids playing with dolls on the beach, which is again accompanied by a song that makes you understand that Barbie has done very, very well in the past from a business perspective. The sophistication of the marketing strategy is evident there, especially in the fact that the voice-over offers a complete summer bundle - when you buy it, you don’t just get Barbie, but also her beach towel, sunglasses, and a few extra inseparable friends. The so-called Sun Set consists of Ken, Midge, and Skipper in addition to Barbie. But the biggest change is the colour. The colour scheme has always been one of the main symbols of Barbie, who always stands out wearing all colours in addition to the iconic pink. Black and white television was somewhat limiting for Mattel’s marketing purposes, and with the advent of colour TV, the company opened the way to even more creative formats reflecting the very concept and idea of Barbie as the best and most stylish toy of all time.
Video: Barbie – Malibu Barbie (1971)
CLIMBING THE SOCIAL LADDER
1985 is a super-significant year in Mattel’s marketing history. It is an important turning point when the company realised that its product had a significant societal impact in the context of the Barbie trend. This idea was embodied in the successful We Girls Can Do Anything campaign, in which the company demonstrated that dreams are to be turned into reality. In this campaign, two worlds basically met - the one that was strictly focused on product presentation, which Barbie started out with in the late 1950s, and the one that was yet to come, and which is the spirit of brand marketing today. This campaign clearly shows support for the feminist movement and the fight for equal rights for women and men in general. In the same year, Mattel launched a new Barbie, this time taking on the role of corporate CEO. The firm thus reflected the shifts that were occurring in American society and that were most evident in the environment of large business corporations. Mattel was co-founded by a woman. It is therefore clear that Barbie’s stylisation as a successful and emancipated woman was by no means a distant reality. Barbie was moving up the social ladder - and she decided to take all women along on this journey.
Video: Barbie – We Girls Can Do Anything (1985)
WORKOUT CENTER STEREOTYPE
Mattel has never made any secret of the fact that Barbie was created with a fairly clear goal - to become an icon and a child role model that every girl will want to follow. From a marketing perspective, this is of course a logical and legitimate goal, but as time has gone on, this strategy has brought predictable problems for the company. As a result, Barbie has often been at the centre of discussions about imprinting, sexism, body shaming and copycat syndrome. Despite this, especially in the past it was true that Barbie was a kind of universally accepted standard of girlish beauty, a message that Mattel marketers fed not only through the structure of the product portfolio but also through subliminal television presentation. In the spirit of what was said, Barbie got her own fitness centre in 1983, which of course could not lack an extensive wardrobe of sports outfits or the leitmotif that a girl who aspires to look like Barbie should definitely not give up keeping fit. In many situations, such messages can fizzle out without much notice, but this is not the case with such a massively popular product that has managed to establish itself as a pop culture icon in a relatively short period. Although no one marvelled at this ethos at the time of the Great Shape Barbie’s premiere, this campaign foreshadowed some of the difficulties that the most famous doll would have to deal with decades later in an era of breaking down gender stereotypes and global movements like MeToo.
Video: Barbie – Workout Center (1985)
HAIR FOCUS
In the early 1990s, Mattel was forced to make some changes to its Barbie product strategy. It was not that Barbie sales were not doing well; it was rather the natural obsolescence of a once successful formula. It was clear that an overflowing wardrobe of outfits for every occasion would not be enough on its own in the future, so attention turned to Barbie’s other iconic attribute - her hair. In that spirit, Barbie abandoned the classic hairstyle for the first time and grew a nearly floor-length mane. This was aptly exploited by the accompanying marketing, which stood and fell on the message that long hair promised hours and hours of creative fun. Children can become hairstylists, which Mattel has of course helped with by offering a wide range of hair accessories such as combs, conditioners, setting lotions and more to go with the new dolls. Indeed, almost anything could be done with hair and marketers were able to revitalise a perfectly working strategy to make it work even a little better. But the important thing is that Barbie remained herself, even though the new look took her even further away from the image of the posh girl who spends her life surrounded by luxury items. Barbie with long hair was hipper and fully corresponded to the trends in children’s animation of the 1990s.
Video: Barbie – Totally Hair (1992)
WORLD OF ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES
As indicated above, Barbie has increasingly had to deal with many challenges in an evolving world, which have been the side effects of mainly social and cultural development. It therefore underwent a bold rebranding in 2015, when Mattel more or less abandoned all its existing marketing identity based mainly on product presentation and plunged into uncharted waters of brand building as a socially responsible actor whose voice is heard globally. The embodiment of this transformation has been the extremely successful Imagine the Possibilities campaign, which, simply put, humorously communicates that we live in a world of endless possibilities and that there is no childhood dream that could not become a reality with a little diligence and effort. The TV ad begins in a university auditorium, which is quickly taken over by a child lecturer. This is then followed in quick succession by similar scenes - we visit a veterinary surgery, a rugby team training session or an airport departure lounge, which are often the places where big business decisions are made. The authors of the campaign aimed to make the presentation funny, which they achieved by focusing on the reactions of the onlookers watching these emancipated girls. At the same time, they wanted to convey an important idea that has been central to the whole identity of the Barbie doll since time immemorial. She has always been the embodiment of the idea that you can be who you want to be. The dolls themselves appear briefly throughout the clip and only at the end, which is a significant change from most of Mattel’s marketing presentations to date. In this way, the marketers make it clear that Barbie is not just a consumer product, but more importantly an idea and a movement.
Video: Barbie – Imagine the Possibilities (2015)
MOSCHINO PUSHING THE LIMITS
However, 2015 was exceptional for yet another bold and unconventional campaign. The thing about gender stereotypes is that they essentially work as a double-edged weapon. All of the aforementioned heated discussions had one thing in common - they revolved around whether Barbie is after all a bad example for girls, who in extreme cases can be driven to the point where they start to question whether they are beautiful, smart or successful enough. But Mattel has never explicitly said that the Barbie line of products is only for girls, but somehow it was implicitly assumed. The partnership with Italian fashion giant Moschino was behind the demolition of this stereotype. Moschino designed its own fashion collection for the dolls, claiming that it is a traditional brand that focuses on fashion for women, men and children. And this is also evident in the TV ad, which features two little girls playing with dolls, but they are very unconventionally accompanied by a little boy who is the star of the spot in fact. It already seemed that Mattel would demolish a long-standing taboo with this move, but in the end, it did not happen. Although the spot was created with its blessing, it turned out the whole stunt was the Italian design house’s idea. And so it has been retrospectively credited to Moschino. But of course, in the age of the indelible digital footprint, the association with the Barbie brand will not be forgotten.
Video: Moschino – Moschino Barbie (2015)
THE CIRCLE CLOSES
One of the last major campaigns before the pink madness of 2023 was carried on a wave of humility, empathy and human belonging. The key slogan says it all - even a simple doll can help make the world a better place to live. While Mattel dolls are heavily present in this TV commercial, as in the previous case, they are not presented as a product, but through the underlying idea of the campaign. All of us would probably like a society that is more patient, more empathetic, more inclusive and more kind. This presentation illustrates that playing with dolls cultivates these character traits in children, which is a prerequisite for bringing about society-wide change. One could almost say that, with this ad, Barbie is symbolically completing the journey she set out on more than 70 years ago. Back then, it started as a cool product that every kid had to have. It promised high variability and lots of creative play options, but it was still primarily advertised as a consumer product. Decades later, however, we encounter Barbie as one of the ways to imaginatively save the world. While this may sound like a beauty pageant model cliché, it is also a confirmation that both Barbie and Mattel have come a long way over the years, full of awareness and self-reflection. Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster reinforces this evolution because - spoiler alert - this is definitely not a film made primarily for children.
Video: Barbie – A Doll Can Help Change the World (2021)
So, if someone complains that the new Barbie movie is essentially a full-length commercial for Mattel’s most famous product, there is no point in refuting that opinion under any circumstances. Logically, there is some truth to that. But it is better to ask a question - how come we waited until 2023 for something like this? The dynamic history of the company and Barbie herself undoubtedly deserves such a dose of attention.
