Barbie has been marketed as running for president seven times since 1992, receiving both praise and criticism from the media and consumers on her appearance and electability. Starting in 2012, Mattel enhanced the Barbie for President dolls as well as her brand partnerships, marketing materials, and social media campaigns to make her more entertaining and more empowering. The purpose of this chapter is to examine whether Mattel’s Barbie for President discourse increased millennial moms’ awareness, interest, and likelihood to purchase Barbie for President for their daughters. Results reveal the social media campaigns did become more substantial and impactful with #Barbie2016 and #Barbie2020, yet most moms were still unaware Barbie for President existed. Furthermore, moms questioned the target population of Barbie for President’s marketing campaigns and the likelihood of social media content to reach their feeds. While @Barbie, herself, has a large social media influence, millennial moms did not express an interest in following Barbie for President content. Instead, they reported that they would wait for their daughters to express interest in Barbie for President through their own social media exposure. Moms also suggested Mattel create more kid-friendly content related to Barbie for President, particularly on YouTube, to increase Barbie’s role as an empowering influencer related to political leadership.

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She Can Be… President: Exploring #Barbieforpresident’s Social Media Campaign and Her Electability with Millennial Moms

  • Andrea E. Hall,
  • Lauren D. Furey

摘要

Barbie has been marketed as running for president seven times since 1992, receiving both praise and criticism from the media and consumers on her appearance and electability. Starting in 2012, Mattel enhanced the Barbie for President dolls as well as her brand partnerships, marketing materials, and social media campaigns to make her more entertaining and more empowering. The purpose of this chapter is to examine whether Mattel’s Barbie for President discourse increased millennial moms’ awareness, interest, and likelihood to purchase Barbie for President for their daughters. Results reveal the social media campaigns did become more substantial and impactful with #Barbie2016 and #Barbie2020, yet most moms were still unaware Barbie for President existed. Furthermore, moms questioned the target population of Barbie for President’s marketing campaigns and the likelihood of social media content to reach their feeds. While @Barbie, herself, has a large social media influence, millennial moms did not express an interest in following Barbie for President content. Instead, they reported that they would wait for their daughters to express interest in Barbie for President through their own social media exposure. Moms also suggested Mattel create more kid-friendly content related to Barbie for President, particularly on YouTube, to increase Barbie’s role as an empowering influencer related to political leadership.