Life in plastic — Barbie, millennials and nostalgia marketing
Once upon a time there was a little girl who saw a Barbie magazine in an advertisement and begged her mother for a subscription. From that day on, she entered a pink world that told her she could be anything. 27 years later, that not-so-little-girl found herself carefully choosing a pink outfit just to watch Barbie the Movie.
Yes, I am talking about me. But it’s not just me. The new film about the world’s most famous doll is one of the most anticipated movies to hit the big screen this year. Two weeks before the official release date, the main trailer has more than 37 million views on the Warner Bros. channel on Youtube, and the first official trailer has 25.2 million views on the film’s Instagram account.
But why are we so excited about a story whose main character is a toy? What does it have to do with millennial culture? And what marketing strategies are behind it all?
It’s been a few years since marketing strategists around the world found a magic element to captivate millennials: nostalgia. Actually, there is nothing magical about it. In fact, the use of emotion in marketing is not new at all. How many decades has Coca-Cola worked to associate its image with feelings of fun and family? But never before has the specific use of nostalgia been on such a large scale.
If in the 50s, the safe choice for those who wanted to sell almost anything was to create an advertisement around the idea of a happy and stable family life, for the generation born in the 80s and 90s, nothing seems to sell better than things that are made to somehow recreate or remember the past.
Back in 2016, when the first season of Stranger Things was released, it quickly went on to become a huge hit. And it’s important to remember that in the beginning, far beyond the mystery itself, most of the conversation around the show was about all the 80s references, as the story is set in 1983. Not only was the production deliberately full of references to films, games, comics, objects, music and other things of the time, but it even cast one of the most iconic movie stars of the era, Winona Ryder.
The Netflix series is not a one-off. Bringing back successes from the past has become a big thing in the entertainment industry. The special “Friends: The Reunion” was watched by an estimated 29% of US streaming households on day one. Recently, part of the world went crazy when the RBD reunion tour was announced, and what can one say about all of these live action Disney movies?
Why are we so nostalgic?
We can say that nostalgia happens in every generation, and it is a rather complex feeling, as there can be many reasons why people dream of the past. But the fact that millennials are so immersed in it deserves further thought.
Due to the high incidence of mental health problems among teenagers and young to middle-aged adults, it has become common to use the term ‘depressed generation’ or ‘sad generation’ to refer to Generations Y and Z. In an interesting article, Spanish psychologist Begoña Albalat Peraita elaborated on some of the reasons, including professional and economic frustration, poor use of social media and the weight of global concerns.
So if the present is so difficult to deal with, going back to a time when everything seemed so simple and playful can be a good relief, even if only for a few hours.
Despite the glorious memories of the past, Millennials and Gen Z are well aware that not everything was great back then. With society shining a light on issues that many people ignored in the past, like homophobia, sexism and bullying, the new adults want to see their new values and ways of life reflected in pop culture.
Which brings us back to Barbie. The big expectations for the new film are also about how these issues will be addressed. And as we have seen from the trailers and teasers, they are not in vain. From the Matrix-like scene in which the scribbled gymnast Barbie tells the protagonist that she must want to know the truth about the real world, to gender issues and the constant feeling of not being enough, the film promises a lot of relatable content for the new adult generation.
With not only the film expected to be a blockbuster, but also the recent launch of many new Barbie products aimed at adult audiences, the doll that revolutionised the toy industry in the 1950s is showing that she still has a lot to teach in terms of marketing.