Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Barbie as social media influencer: would you buy something endorsed by Barbie?

In early August, Mane University in Hawaii hosted a beauty conference for Dyson's Supersonic hair dryer. it seems that Barbie (Mattel really) was hired to produce sponsored content for it. You can check the Barbie Style instagram by Mattel to see the related content, or check the photos from that account below:


It seems a bit weird to hire a doll (no matter how famous she is) to advertise a super expensive ($400) high tech hair dryer. In the age of Kardashian/Jenner social media reign and companies paying 6- figure sums to influencers with millions of followers in order to promote their products, hiring Barbie must have some secret meaning I am just not getting - is it the colour?


Would you buy something, or even think of buying something, because you saw it on Barbie's instagram? Is this a thing of the future? While I like the attention fashion dolls are getting from outside the (small) world of collectors, this feels weird.




All photos courtesy of Mattel Inc., from the @barbiestyle instagram account.

3 comments:

  1. I would not pay 400.00 for a hair dryer no matter who advertised it

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  2. I completely agree with you! That whole series in Hawaii was a bit strange. Is the Barbie Instagram account meant to sell their product or sell Barbie as a social media darling? Given Mattel's financial statement, you would think they would want to use it to sell product. It's not exactly what they are doing. Great article! Thanks for posting!

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  3. My short answer is: NO.

    If I were a child, maybe Barbie could sell me candy or cereal or toys. But as an adult (even though I collect dolls), Barbie can't sell me anything. Not only that, but this is an odd product for a doll to be hawking, given that hairdryers melt the their hair. And then, there is that $400 price tag. Ouch!

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