Big data Barbie: Barbie discourse on Facebook and Instagram

Abstract

How was Barbie discussed on social media after the film's release in July 2023? While a great deal of media and academic commentary offers presumptive answers, to our knowledge no study has sought to address such a question empirically. We examine all posts on Meta's Facebook and Instagram platforms that mentioned Barbie during the month of the movie's premiere. Using soft clustering of large language model embeddings, we offer an informed answer to that question. Barbie was discussed in an impressively wide variety of contexts: from co-opting Barbie as a means of boosting sales or one's online following; to celebratory expressions of gratitude and excitement; gendered frames of the movie as feminine success; thoughtful discussions of gender, motherhood and broader questions about who has ‘Kenergy’ and what constitutes being ‘Kenough’. Importantly, these discourses cast doubt on the assumption that criticisms of the movie commanded the public's primary attention online.