The world is pink: inside Barbie

It sounds like a recipe for disaster: launching a brand based around ananatomically impossible tall blonde Caucasian doll in the middle ofChina’s richest city… 

But for mainland Chinese, if it comes from abroad it’s got to be good.And while ardour for Barbie might be waning in the hearts of anincreasingly conservative western world, in Asia she’s new, unique – andvery different.

In the Huaihai Rd strip shopping precinct in Shanghai populated by araft of foreign and local lifestyle and luxury brands, stands an eightstory testament to the 50 year old Barbie concept.

Let’s get one thing straight though from the outset: this is not aboutpromoting an impossibly shapely tall blonde female figure as theultimate aspirational look in a land of shorter brunettes. The Barbie isall about fun, friends, interactive experiences, food, fashion – andmost of all pink.

Pink. It’s everywhere. From the pink-clad Barbie dolls displayed in theglass-encircled staircase, to the walls, the decorations and thecupcakes in the cafe, pink is the essence.

But even to westerners who may feel a little jaded by the whole Barbie thing, this is not gauche or overpowering.

It’s bling, for sure, but it’s fun. And very much an escape into adifferent world, emphasised by the pink tunnel surrounding the escalatorfrom street level to entry floor.
You can browse – and judging from our time in-store too many do justthat, suggesting that this store, like many other brand flagships, ismore of a marketing initiative than a retail store with a make-or-breakprofit objective.

We’ll let the pictures tell the story for themselves…

This feature first appeared in Inside Retailing Magazine. Click here to subscribe.

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