Life in plastic has never looked more familiar. VF's delia_cai goes on set with Barbie, the original influencer, and examines the 11.5-inch Malibu icon's foray into the creator economy.
, Mattel’s executive vice president and global head of Barbie and dolls, about the corporate rationale behind this level of investment in a doll’s social media accounts. After all, it isn’t as if the TikTok and Instagram crowds necessarily align with the core toy store customer. “A little girl that played Barbie two decades ago could be a mother today, or a grandmother,” McKnight says.
The original idea to personify Barbie’s social accounts as if she were a living, breathing content creator first came about in the mid-2010s, when Kusnoor, a lifelong Barbie lover, started at Mattel. “I had plenty of dolls at home, and I would take these gorgeous little pictures of them,” he says.
After a full day immersed in Barbie’s world, I find myself lingering back in her closet with Kusnoor and Robert Best, vice president of Barbie product design, once more before I leave, and still gazing at one last doll. She’s sporting a pink leather jacket that’s just begging to be zipped up. If it weren’t for the publicists hanging cheerily on my every move, there’s no question I’d give into the impulse.
“Seeing anything in Barbie scale triggers a sense memory. It’s that thing of, oh, I want to play with it…” Best says when I confess my desire. “You look deeper, and you’re like, ‘Oh look, Barbie is just like me.’ She’s posting pictures of avocado toast.” Life in plastic: It’s never looked more familiar.
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