July: The Barbie buzz summed up in three words
As someone who played with Barbies as a child and who enjoys Greta Gerwig films as an adult, I’ve been especially susceptible to the film’s prolific marketing campaign. I’ve found the mix of nostalgia and intrigue irresistible: the toys-brought-to-life activations, the obscure archival premiere looks, and the ingenious invented words that are now part of the English-speaking-world’s (and beyond) cultural lexicon. Interestingly, these words mark the different stages of the film’s growing hype…
Barbiecore!
When photos from the set were released in June 2022, Barbiecore was declared the aesthetic of the summer – but hot pink was already everywhere, largely thanks to Valentino’s AW22 collection.
In July 2022, Vogue even questioned if Barbiecore was in fact, ‘a core’, or if celebs were just wearing head-to-toe pink – “Not everything needs to be legitimized and elevated to the level of a core.” In any case, the fact that Barbiecore has been in use for well over a year shows how long anticipation for the film has been building.
(Sidenote: I hope we have reached peak core with corecore, which is more of a melancholy vibe than an aesthetic.)
Kenergy!
The film’s marketing started its ascent into fever pitch around four months ago. In April, Ryan Gosling/Ken dropped the word kenergy at Comic Con. Whether the actor invented the word or somebody in marketing fed it to him, kenergy feels natural and is fun to say; it rolls off the tongue, and it doesn’t need explaining.
Of all three words, I feel like this one has the most staying power, and I look forward to discussing the varying kenergy levels of celebrities in the future.
Barbienheimer!
The box office throw-down was originally referred to as ‘Barbie vs Oppenheimer’, until everyone (or possibly Tom Cruise) decided we’re all capable of enjoying tonally contrasting films, and that a double-feature of two blockbusters is better than one. Thus the portmanteau of the summer was born.
Perhaps in a few years, Generation Alpha will stumble across the term on ancient social posts, and create something new inspired by the brief but beautiful time millions of film fans were united in their love of marketing.
Next up in the Mattel movie-verse is Lena Dunham’s Polly Pocket film, which now has some big plastic shoes to fill (Barbie grossed over $500 million in its opening week). I’m interested to see if the marketing campaign has any similarities to Barbie. Will they lean into Polly Pocket Purple? Pocket Fuel? Pollyamorous? I’ll probably fall for it, whatever they do.