Barbie doll sales soar

2023-08-01 20:43:22

Since the appearance of the bright pinks of Barbieland on the big screenin toy stores it is increasingly common hear this question: “Do you have Barbies?”. Despite the effectiveness of one of the most ambitious marketing campaigns in years, Mattel, the manufacturer of the most famous doll in history, it does not trace the losses of more than seventy million euros with which it closed the first half of 2023. Results that, of course, do not affect local toy stores.

“Since the movie was released we had not noticed such a large increase in sales of all Barbie products,” they say from toyland. The Breaking into the market for other dolls more striking for the little ones or the growing popularity of video games and electronic games It could be the explanation for Barbie’s passing into the background. Nevertheless, Gerwig’s work seems to have endowed with a renewed speech to all his universe and thus demonstrated the timeless triumph of a good idea born on time. “Above all, they ask us about the specific dolls from the film, with their costumes and accessories, but we don’t have them so, in the end, they end up taking a different one,” they acknowledge in toyswhere they estimate an increase of up to forty percent in this product.

A universe beyond the shelves

In addition to the laminated reproductions of the characters played by Margot Robbie y Ryan Gosling, the most demanded is the Barbie Color Reveal. It is a cylindrical container that includes surprise bags with the accessories and the doll, covered in a kind of paint, which must be put in water to discover the model. Also Barbies gain strength with professions: doctor, pet photographer, chef, fashionista, singer or painter, among many others. Those who ask about them the most are parents or grandparents “And it’s not because they have to give a gift, but because the girls simply ask for them non-stop,” they say behind the counter at Carrion Toyswhose showcase has become a reflection of that universe of possibilities where childhood dreams survive, in pink.

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it is color traditionally associated with the hyper-femininehas also given the jump to fashion and decoration due to the outbreak of the “plasticized” phenomenon. The difference is that this time it does not only appeal to women. “Children also come asking for the Ken after having seen the film”, they point out in Juguettos. It is worth asking then if the script for the big screen has produced changes in the way children relate to these toys, if the concept feminist with which that independent blonde was born in the 50s –for the first time the girls found a role model with other aspirations beyond being a mother — has achieved a more contemporary rereading (“Why don’t you think about who you are and what you really want?” Barbie asks Ken in the movie, as if Mattel were jumping into the self-parody: Ken doll has never made sense in the game, except for Barbie ). At least, the sales reflect that the pink universe is extending beyond the shelves of a children’s room.

The collecting phenomenon

This is a very obvious aspect for collectors like María Quiñones, pharmacist and doll collector in their free time. A hobby “precisely not cheap”, he assures, especially “when it comes to older models and limited editions”, but “very rewarding, since it not only involves admiring objects, but also have pieces of history with you, of our history as a society for the changing way of relating to the game”, he adds to this newspaper. Many of them have been purchased at Barbies The Nutcracker, the only specialized store in Córdoba. You don’t mind admitting that more than four hundred euros has been spent on the latest Mattel collection Inspired by the movie characters and their accessories. “It’s also a way to keep my childhood memories alive,” she adds. It’s clear. Living ‘in plastic’ is once again ‘fantastic’.