Research on the Marketing Model of the Film Barbie

Yuqiao Chang

Shanghai Foreign Language School Affiliated to SISU, Shanghai, China

Keywords: Barbie, Marketing, Hollywood.

Abstract: Hollywood is the symbol of the film industry, which embraces distinctive types of film. Hollywood movies

cover all kinds of genres. With exquisite special effects, splendid visuals and stirring content, Hollywood

movies have captivated audiences around the world. Despite the excellent storyline, marketing is considered

as significant with the advance of technology. This case study aims to expose the implicit marketing strategies

behind one of the hit Hollywood films--Barbie. Various marketing strategies such as social media platforms

and global simultaneous premieres can be ascertained in the film. This article interprets the definition of social

media and pink elements. Afterward, this article analyzes the advantages and flaws of the two strategies.

Finally, this paper puts forward some suggestions for further research. For example, different marketing

strategies are needed for different films to promote the diversified development of the whole film industry.

1 INTRODUCTION

Hollywood is the cultural center of the United States.

Audiences are attracted to Hollywood films by the

captivating content and philosophical characteristics

of life. The success of a movie cannot solely rely on

the content. It also depends on a unique marketing

strategy that enables audiences to remember the film

in one minute or less.

The Hollywood film- Barbie, is the symbol and

model of marketing strategies. The Barbie movie

series is praised profoundly by people of all ages,

especially young women (Bhattacharyya, 2024).

Barbie is a western brand which is devoted to

negotiating with western culture with the outside

world. Barbie's marketing campaign leverages the

way people play with Barbie and contrasts it with the

standard marketing strategy for a summer blockbuster

(Canavarro & Imamovi, 2024). Withstanding the

obstacles for decades, Barbie must be an icon in the

marketing field.

The condition of global markets is severe.

Nowadays, markets have already surpassed the

restrictions of geography. Consumers have abundant

freedom to select goods and services in the domestic

or foreign markets. With the increasing options for

consumption, firms must face the rival with

contemporary companies. To create a separate school

from competitive products, marketing strategies are

an imperative part of distinguishing between plenty

of movies. However, many film distributions fall into

homogenization. Almost all the marketing companies

will set up short video accounts and release videos

that are in less than a minute. At the same time, the

content of the marketing videos will be exaggerated.

For example, marketing firms hire actors and capture

their mood fluctuations through the movie to achieve

the desired effect. Therefore, it is necessary to

cultivate several competitive marketing techniques.

Indeed, few studies have researched these aspects.

Through the above analysis, the objectives of this

paper include three aspects. The first one is to explore

the reaction and perception of targeted audiences

towards the synthetic Barbie’s marketing measures.

The second one is to explore the reaction and

perception of targeted audiences towards the

synthetic Barbie’s marketing measures. The last one

is to examine the brand image of Barbie IP and

identify the underlying room for progress.

In order to achieve these purposes, this article

manipulates a case study by reviewing the film Barbie

and the development of the Barbie brand. Afterwards,

two typical marketing measures observed in Barbie

are analyzed in a detailed manner. Although social

media is a ubiquitous platform in marketing, the pink

element in Barbie is peculiar. Moreover, this essay

focuses on the pros and cons of the two strategies. The

final discussion centers on how Barbie can be aware

of more public attention and engagement.

268

Chang, Y.

Research on the Marketing Model of the Film Barbie.

DOI: 10.5220/0013989800004916

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Public Relations and Media Communication (PRMC 2025), pages 268-272

ISBN: 978-989-758-778-8

2 THE INTRODUCTION OF

BARBIE

According to a historical investigation, Barbie has

been around for a very long time. Unlike other toys,

barbie has endured for decades and currently is a

cultural symbol (Canavarro & Imamovi, 2024).

People cannot neglect the extensive influence of this

typical icon, which is the source of imagination of the

following film--Barbie. The film Barbie is a fantasy

film directed by Greta Gerwig which aroused

worldwide attention as soon as it was launched in July

2023. This film has grossed 252 million Chinese yuan

in China, while grossing 1.442 billion US dollars in

the world range (Zhang & Zhang, 2024). Barbie

broke the previous global box office record for

Warner Bros. Surpassing the currently released

Oppenheimer, Barbie became the highest-grossing

movie globally in terms of box office revenue (Li,

2024).

The movie Barbie refers to a groundbreaking

depiction of feminism with the iconic image--Barbie

(Mrabet, 2024). Barbie experienced an unconstrained

life in the fantasy world without concerns and

hesitation, meaning that they can select occupation by

themselves. On the contrary, Barbies are confronted

with gender inequality and appearance anxiety after

entering reality. The main character, Barbie, decided

to change the world. The film, Barbie, directly points

out the male and female rights of the society. With the

aim of raising public awareness of gender equality,

the film illustrates feminism strength which cannot be

ignored.

In addition to the story content, marketing

strategies of Barbie are also an industry trendsetter. A

marketing strategy is a carefully formulated plan

developed to accomplish its marketing objectives

(Sudirjo, 2023). The chief goal of the marketing

strategy is to surge awareness, recognition and sales

of the product, while building a lasting connection

with the consumers (Sudirjo, 2023). Today’s world is

completely different from the past. In the era of

booming information, outstanding content is

insufficient to capture consumers. Effective and

efficient marketing strategies are crucial for product

promotion, allowing consumers to notice

oversupplied products.

Thus, this paper will analyze the marketing

strategies of Barbie and elucidate why the film is

outstanding.

3 THE ANALYSIS OF

MARKETING STRATEGIES

3.1 Social Media

Social media marketing entails utilizing the strength

of well-known social media platforms to achieve a

company's marketing goal (Fan, 2023). Due to the

rapid development of the Internet, more and more

people are starting to use social media platforms.

Networked video sharing has exploded as a new,

game-changing Internet application in the last two

years (Cheng et al., 2007). Barbie consists of multi-

aspect marketing strategies through social media.

Prevalent social media, for example, Instagram,

Facebook, Ticktock, are the ideal platforms to

promote movies. A transformation that more and more

people prefer to utilize short video platforms is

common nowadays. Thus, the marketing companies

extend comprehensive promotion strategies through

social media.

Using celebrities as ambassadors is one method

used by marketers to promote products on social

media (Fan, 2023). The positive image of the celebrity

renders trust and reliance on the audience, attracting

them to consume the goods and services. Famous

celebrities enhance the likelihood of consuming. For

example, the cooperation between Ryan Reynold with

Mint Mobile boosts sales income by 50,000% in just

three years (Tarigan et al., 2023). Warner Bros united

with HGTV to shoot the series of reality competitions-

- Barbie Dream House Challenge before Barbie was

launched (Li, 2024). Eight groups of HGTV stars and

one prevalent chef were invited to renovate the

apartments in South California to the realistic Barbie

House (Li, 2024). This preview program motivated

citizens’ curiosity and their wish to watch the film as

soon as possible. Therefore, celebrities fascinate

audience’s attention and promote sales volume.

3.2 “Gender Performative” and

“Millennial Pink”

The public likely considers the pink elements to

women by their intuition. Marketing strategists have

contemplated it as a feminist color, which celebrates

the empowering femininity now presented in a

positive way (Mrabet, 2024). The iconic ‘Barbie

Pink’ is extensively utilized in movies. From clothing

to background scenes, the ubiquitous ‘Barbie Pink’

seems to strengthen the visual identity of the brand.

Pink creates a dreamlike atmosphere that befits the

fairy-tale basis.

Research on the Marketing Model of the Film Barbie

269

Specifically, pink is not only a symbol of appearance

but also a reflection of feminist confidence, talents

and power. The main character, Barbie's pink clothes

illustrate her intelligence and charm. The pink

elements of different characters also reflect the

diversity of the characters. The complexity of pink

breaks the stereotype of the sole representative of

female. Finally, the pink scenes erect the imagination

untrue world, allowing audience to escape from the

overwhelming reality for a short period. Barbie

Movies will be deeply bound to the "pink" content.

As long as you see the pink composition, you will be

reminded of the movie.

4 THE EFFECT OF MARKETING

STRATEGIES

4.1 The Positive Effect of Marketing

Strategies

Social media offers several benefits to the promotion

of movies. Internet targets to promote the company

by taking advantage of the e-commerce platform,

social media channels to effectively contact

consumers in a number of countries (Sudirjo, 2023).

Marketers utilize social media to expand the range of

events (Nakayama, 2023).

First, social media has a widespread influence and

serves as a dominant platform for many people to

keep in touch with the outside world. Social media

enables us to publicize products to the largest

audience at minimal cost. Either corporate or

individuals can set up their social media accounts

without opportunity cost. By updating articles and

interacting with net citizens, everyone can spread

information to a large amount of people.

Second, social media directly targets their

consumers based on personal interests and

preferences. Social media will precisely browse

history from another platform. Social media

platforms, through algorithms and big databases,

enable us to fulfill personalized requirements and

targeted advertising. Users' interests, age, and

geographic location are the key data for social media

to meet consumers’ needs. For example, the film

producer advertises with the help of massive media

such as TikTok’s inventing relevant topics, which

renders a feeling that the movie is ubiquitous (Chen,

2021). This strategy also breaks the restriction of

geographical factors, meaning that residents will

receive the recent information no matter where they

live.

Third, the implementation of an effective digital

marketing strategy to enable an organization to

improve brand exposure (Sudirjo, 2023). Social

media is a crucial platform to construct its brand

image. By delivering high-quality content,

corporation establishes a positive brand image.

Consumers who share feedback and

recommendations online enhance brand influence

and trust. Network platform combines media and

consumers closely. Media provides consumers with

room for choice. On the other hand, consumers'

evaluations meditate on the quality of products and

indirectly promote the feedback of the media.

Marketing majors stress that if you have a

customized product slogan or design, it will

inherently possess greater value (Mrabet, 2024). The

movie Barbie is filled with pink elements. Pink

elements are associated with women intuitive. In the

film, pink is also subtly devoted to conveying a

feminist strength, which is the core of Barbie. The

color tends to allow female audiences to feel a sense

of self-identification, aiming to attract more people to

go to the cinema. Thus, this ‘pink strategy’ targets the

ideal consumer--young women to have emotional

resonance and self-fulfillment.

Pink is the iconic of the Barbie brand. The

narrative of Barbie is vividly portrayed through

vibrant pink experiences and a fantastical realm of

escapism, where women are empowered to achieve

anything, they desire (Mrabet, 2024). Specifically,

according to the research released by Jeanswear, 27%

of investigators linked pink elements with dolls (Silva

& Oliveira, 2024). As one of the most successful

brands in the world, Barbie masters this advantage of

color to upgrade their goods and services. On the

other hand, pink elements are steadily spread and

discussed online or offline. For example, marketing

corporations or cyberczars generate a topic like "Pink

Storm". For example, Burger King Brazil designed a

pink sauce, a pink shake, a pink doughnut, and 'Ken

fries' and this combo was the trend for Brazilian fans

on social media (Canavarro & Imamovi, 2024).

Afterwards, audiences spontaneously share their pink

outfits which create long-term and consecutive flash

points.

4.2 The Negative Effect of Marketing

Strategies

4.2.1 The Flaws of Social Media

It is undeniable that social media is an effective and

efficient marketing platform--abundant cases have

corroborated the practicality. However, social media

PRMC 2025 - International Conference on Public Relations and Media Communication

270

inevitably acquire weaknesses. The internet faces

challenges of overloaded information and intense

competition. With the rapid development of society,

social media platforms are flooded with enormous

amounts of messages. Net users receive contents both

useful and irrelevant passively. As a result, brand

messages can easily disappear into the network in a

quiet manner. The competition between products is

becoming more and more severe, resulting in

increasing investment and creativity standing out.

More and more people pay intensive attention to

the influence of the social media platform of public

discourse and social dynamics, especially based on

toxicity (Avalle et al., 2024). To capture the eye of

the audience, many media prefer exaggerated

language and even surpass the boundaries of

appropriateness during their promotions. Teenagers

who have not formed a sound worldview are

vulnerable to these buzzwords. If they are

overexposed to this language, it will result in a

profoundly negative impact on their physical and

mental health. People should also raise the awareness

of fake news. As the prevalence of AI technology, the

cost of AI Face-swaps and voice replacement turns

out to be gradually low. Even civilians without

professional knowledge can effortlessly come into

contact with technology. The chief question is about

the use of data privacy, security, and potential attacks

(Canavarro & Imamovic, 2025). Some lawbreakers

exploit this technique by substituting the appearances

and voices of celebrities to achieve false propaganda.

This behavior not only tarnishes the reputation of the

celebrities but also misleads the public. Only

lawbreakers obtain increasing profits from false

propaganda, which is worth denouncing.

4.2.2 The Inadequacy of Color Marketing

The world is congested with gender-neutral products.

On the contrary, pink elements is the representative

of women in the conventional aspect. Producers sell

pink products at extraordinarily high and absurd

prices. The marketing plan invents the so-called "pink

tax," constraining women to pay extra fees for

everyday items, from "girl toys" and school uniforms

to walking sticks, braces and adult diapers (Mrabet,

2024). The extensive use of pink components may be

judged by reinforcing gender stereotype, which

betrays the feminist core in the film. The risk cannot

be neglected that there is distinctive ambivalence and

controversy among viewers. The implicit ‘Pink Tax’

effect will wreck women’s rights instead of enlisting

rights and interests and eliminating gender inequality.

Second, the overuse of pink elements may lead to

visual fatigue. Causing viewers to experience

aesthetic fatigue. During the long period of

generalization process, monotonous constituent

diminishes audience's expectations of novelty. There

is a misconception that viewers will mistakenly

consider the film as superficial or merely focus on

visual part. They will overlook metaphorical themes

by overspreading the pink ingredients. It is essential

for producers to balance the visual aspect and the

deeper content.

5 CONCLUSION

Through case analysis, this paper analyzes the

marketing methods of Barbie, summarizes the social

media and color marketing, and lastly compares their

advantages and weaknesses. Utilizing social media

platforms and underscoring the pink elements are

suitable for the cultural background of Barbie. The

prominence of the two methods is due to brand image,

cultural background and the trends of society. The

extensive use of pink in the movie aims to awaken the

audience's collective memory of the Barbie brand. As

a highly saturated color, pink has an intensive visual

attraction on social media, especially the short video

platforms. This kind of viral marketing grabs

viewers’ attention in a short period of time, which

leaves an unforgettable recall in the mind. As a result,

strategies combining both social media and pink

components quickly generate discussion and plugs on

all platforms through Barbie-themed pictures, and

videos.

Although Barbie is one of the most lasting brands,

the marketing trend also reveals weaknesses: for

example, over-marketing, or low-quality short

videos. In this case, future approaches should appeal

to audiences of different cultural backgrounds, gender

identities and age groups. By sending their thoughts

online, Barbie widens the sights of analyzing the film.

Moreover, the marketing firm can cooperate with

women's rights organizations to launch public welfare

projects to assist more female. With distinctive

approaches, Barbie must be remembered in history

and become a classic.

REFERENCES

Avalle, M., Di Marco, N., Etta, G., Sangiorgio, E., Alipour,

S., Bonetti, A., Quattrociocchi, W. 2024. Persistent

interaction patterns across social media platforms and

over time. Nature 628(8008): 582–589.

Research on the Marketing Model of the Film Barbie

271

Bhattacharyya, R. 2024. Marketing and the Barbie Movie.

Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism,

University of Southern California.

Canavarro, A. & Imamovi, I. 2024. Exploring the Impact of

Barbie's 360º Marketing Communications Campaign:

A Qualitative Study. Management in Review 2(1): 29–

47.

Canavarro, A. & Imamovic, I. 2025. The Use of AI as a

Tool for Marketing Communication Campaigns:

Applied Study of Barbie Selfie-Generator. International

Journal of Marketing, Communication and New Media

(15).

Chen, Y. 2021. Research on marketing strategies of

different movies and film market. In 2021 3rd

International Conference on Economic Management

and Cultural Industry (ICEMCI 2021): 218–221.

Atlantis Press.

Cheng, X., Dale, C. & Liu, J. 2007. Understanding the

characteristics of internet short video sharing: YouTube

as a case study. arXiv preprint arXiv:0707.3670.

Fan, X. 2023. Social media marketing strategies. Advances

in Economics, Management and Political Sciences 23:

59–64.

Li, B. 2024. How the Pink Storm Sweeps the World: A Case

Study on the Marketing of Barbie. Literature and Art

Weekly (14): 83–85.

Mrabet, I. 2024. Barbie Beyond Pink: Intersections of

Brand Activism, Femvertising and Purple-Washing in

Contemporary Film Marketing.

Nakayama, C. 2023. Destination marketing through film-

induced tourism: a case study of Otaru, Japan. Journal

of Hospitality and Tourism Insights 6(2): 966–980.

Silva, A.L.D. & Oliveira, A.B.C.D. 2024. Um estudo sobre

estratégias de marketing utilizadas na divulgação do

longa-metragem de Barbie (2023).

Sudirjo, F. 2023. Marketing strategy in improving product

competitiveness in the global market. Journal of

Contemporary Administration and Management

(ADMAN) 1(2): 63–69.

Tarigan, R.S., Tandung, J.C. & Sutrisno, A.K. 2023. The

effect of celebrity endorsement on purchase intention.

(Doctoral dissertation, Petra Christian University).

Zhang, Z. & Zhang, F. 2024. Research on the path of brand

remolding-taking the film Barbie as an example.

Packaging Engineering 45(8): 416–423.

PRMC 2025 - International Conference on Public Relations and Media Communication

272