In the run-up to the release of Barbie, there was a lot of criticism of its woke themes and the fact that it was a film that seemed more targeted at adults than children. Many conservatives took to Twitter to predict that it would be the latest example of the adage, “go woke, go broke.” Instead, Barbie crushed it at the box office, earning $155 million domestically and $337 million worldwide. I think there is a lesson here for those who expected the film to go the way of Bud Light. And that lesson is, what really matters is not whether a brand goes woke, but whether it insults its core audience in doing so and whether there are other consumers to take the place of those who were alienated.
In the case of Bud Light, the company not only did a promotion involving transgender personality Dylan Mulvaney, a top marketing executive was recorded having said the brand needed to move beyond “fratty” and “out of touch humor.” In doing so, she insulted the brand’s core customers, while the new “inclusive” advertising campaign didn’t attract enough new customers to offset the damage.
Barbie, however, is different. Filmmakers may have have pushed a woke message, but the main audience for the movie was not adult male conservatives. While the film may have turned off some right-leaning families, there are also plenty of adult women and liberals who buy movie tickets, or average moviegoers who don’t really care about the film’s messaging one way or another. In this case, conservative backlash likely didn’t hurt and may have even helped.
While it’s theoretically possible that the opening weekend was boosted by pre-sales, and that in subsequent weeks the movie’s ceiling will be limited by conservative parents spreading the word that it’s not appropriate for young children, it seems like there will be plenty of other audiences for the movie to draw on.