Pink, blonde or early 2000

“Silly season” officially starts on August 1st, but such is the depressing nature of the news this summer that on many platforms, it seems to have started much earlier.

In the face of rail strikes, postal strikes, rising interest rates, political uncertainty and a looming cost of living crisis, we could all do with a bit of levity in the form of SPF being applied to pigs, or the latest TikTok beauty trend.

Perhaps that’s why the new Barbie movie has been garnering so much attention. Whoever is responsible for its PR deserves a medal and a new Dreamhouse. Were so many column inches ever devoted to so little? Every time a new pic of Margot Robbie as Barbie / Ryan Gosling as Ken drops, outlets frivolous and serious fall over themselves to report on it. Their bright kitsch eyegasm costumes ensure the Barbie movie is primarily a fashion story (#Barbiecore is trending on Tiktok and Pinterest, sales of pink hair dye have rocketed, “Barbie Blonde” is allegedly being requested in the hairdresser’s chair) yet it’s had cultural theories imposed on it, too.

Tempting as it might be to pitch obvious fashion content such as anything pink, blonde or early 2000, PRs hitching their star to the Barbie truck might be wise to play a subtler, longer game.

Almost unbelievably, the film itself isn’t out for another year – yes, it currently has a release date of July 21st, 2023. However great our hunger for light, visually arresting stories, those pink pitches are already looking pretty tired. Don’t ditch Barbie as a hook, but think further out of the (toy) box.