If you cross-promote it, they will buy

I spent my childhood as a die-hard Barbie girl.

I played with Barbies throughout my childhood.
I collected Barbies into adulthood.
I have boxes of Barbies and Barbie clothes in boxes.
I have at least three Barbies currently displayed in my house.

However, the current generation of cross promotion has reached new levels. I get the girl power, hot pink items. But some of what I have seen lately belies my understanding. Naturally flavored gummy candy at Whole Foods:

Yes, this year is Barbie's 65th Anniversary.

And yes last year was the juggernaut Barbie movie.

And yes femcore is in.

And who doesn't love hot pink, nostalgic roller skates, and pink lemonade gummy candy.

But, Barbie in every grocery aisle is a new phenomenon.

The peaches and cream flavor on this one seems fitting, but they could have at least incorporated that 80s doll on the can. Plus, I'm not excited by the artwork here:

This was the other food co-pro that made me scratch my head:

I see from the marketing that there's a foundation encouraging girls and women entrepreneurs. That's great. But I can't say I see pita chips and think "Oooh, women's empowerment."

I saw this in an online post but didn't manage to find any Barbie donuts IRL (the closest Krispy Kreme to me is 35 miles north on the interstate):

Cute in the picture.

Screams Barbie-loving nostalgia

But somehow this line “Barbie and Krispy Kreme are two brands that immediately spark joy and elicit sweet memories,” strikes me as... inauthentic.

Not all marketing is food related either. While not an offically Mattel sanctioned item, this is one my favorite recent Barbie sightings:

Seen at a local gym I walked past the other day:

Not gonna lie, it's cute, it caught my attention, and it made me laugh. I do like the "and Tim" tagline.

Maybe it really comes down to pink overload. Last week I was in NYC and took a friend to the Miniso store. I don't care who you are and how much you like pop culture products. It. Is. A. Lot. I was on overload by the time we left.

Ten year old me would have been in heaven. And 50 year old me looked at the water bottles and seriously debated one for me and one for another Barbie loving friend. The eyelash curler however is made for someone much more girly than I have ever been.

Maybe, at the end of the day I'm just jealous that this generation of Barbie fans get all the paraphernalia that didn't exist 35 years ago.

Maybe it's just the co-pro, post-Marvel age of "more is always better," and Mattel has long been on that bandwagon.

All that being said, if I lived in D.C., I would have gone to this professional women's soccer game in a heartbeat.

To me, THIS represents empowerment and a way to promote the doll, what she has meant to decades of fans, and encourage the next generation to see themselves as pink, girly, strong, athletic, or whatever else they want to be:

Comments

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