open/close all folders
Advertising
- An animated Barbie appears in commercials for the McDonald's Happy Birthday Happy Meal from 1994, where she interacts with other animated characters, such as Sonic the Hedgehog, as well as a live-action Ronald McDonald.note
- A commercial for Progressive that tied in with Barbie (2023) has Jamie visiting Barbie's house, giving not-so-subtle hints to the other Progressive insurance agents about how Barbie is his client.
- Barbie has appeared or been parodied in a few Public Service Announcements:
- In an American MADD PSA from 2008, Ken drives drunk and causes an accident. He is sent to jail and Barbie has to live with some serious injuries, including the loss of an eye.
- In a 2000s PSA against Teen Pregnancy from Idaho, Barbie is parodied as "Teen Mommy Darci" in a mock toy commercial for a doll of a teenage mother. Teen Mommy Darci comes with a trailer playset, welfare cheques, and a nonstop crying Baby Darci. Teen Daddy Darren is not available. The point being, parenting is not a game, and to take precaution to avoid unwanted pregnancies.
- In a 2010s PSA from the NSPCC, a little girl holds a cup to a Barbie telling her to "have another vodka", evidently mimicking her mother.
Anime & Manga
- In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, Joseph pokes at D'Arby's name by calling him 'Barbie' to irritate him.
Comic Books
- The Sandman (1989) has a recurring character called Barbie, who first appears in the "Doll's House" story arc as one half of a yuppie couple with a man named Ken (a coincidence they immediately lampshade whenever they introduce themselves to anyone).
- Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics): In "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" from Issue #14, Dr. Robotnik is seen playing with a defective Sally Acorn doll that says "Math is hard.", a reference to the infamous Teen Talk Barbie doll, which received controversy as one of its phrases was "Math class is tough!"
Comic Strips
- Dennis the Menace (US): In the December 5, 2003 strip, upon seeing Margaret's ragdoll, Dennis tells her "One thing's for sure. That doll won't be stealing any boyfriends from Barbie".
- Off the Mark:
- In this strip
, a family of mummies goes shopping. One of the kids wants Barbie bandages. - A man has something on his foot, either a LEGO piece or a Barbie shoe.
- "That's not what I meant when I asked you to put a chicken on the Barbie..."
- The NHL hires Mattel to redesign hockey penalty boxes with a Barbie design.
- One of the latest exiles to The Island of Misfit Toys, "First-Thing-In-The-Morning Barbie".
- The Little Bad Wolf's Sister tattles on him when he blows down Barbie's house and eats the doll.
- In this strip
- Some For Better or for Worse comics have Elizabeth and April playing with Barbies. And when April and Becky are into the Spice Girls, Barbie was mentioned as the thing they were into before that, with John mentioning Barbie being a "natural precursor to the Spice Girls".
Fan Works
- In The Chevauchéers, Alison compares the plastic lip-gloss and people (the Autons) to Barbie.
- The Kedabory Verse:
- One chapter of Junior Officers mentions that Deborah enjoys Barbie movies, with her favourites being Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper and Barbie & The Diamond Castle.
- Pretty Cure: Magic of the Rainbow is named after Barbie Fairytopia: Magic of the Rainbow.
- The Season's My Reason: Liana and Alexa of Barbie & The Diamond Castle, and later, Barbie herself (both Brooklyn and Malibu) appear to help Yui and Seraphina on their quest.
- In Shining and Sweet, there is a character named Isla Fallon with the username "dancingprincess9", evidently based on Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses.
- In the Encanto fanfic Storytime, Sabrina is mentioned to have owned a Peaches 'n' Cream Barbie before she fled America and came to the Encanto.
- What Your Favourite Cure Says About You claims that fans of Cure Butterfly are also likely to enjoy Barbie movies.
Films — Animation
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: When Sam Sparks tells Flint Lockwood that she always wanted to be a weather girl, she says that while other girls wanted Barbie dolls, she wanted a Doppler Radar Turbo 2000.
- One of the promos for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, released a few weeks after the 2023 Barbie film, parodied the promotion for that film with toy versions of the turtles spying on real Barbies dolls in their dream houses from their sewer lair. The promo was taken down not long after for legal reasons.
- Toy Story:
- Toy Story 2:
- Many Barbie dolls first appear in their respective aisle in Al's Toy Barn. Most of them are minor characters and are mostly just used for a few gags. One in particular serves as a tour guide who gives Andy's toys a tour of the store rather than take them directly to Al's office as they intended.
- When Andy's toys save Woody from Stinky Pete, they stuff the latter into a Barbie backpack. Amy, the girl who owns the backpack, has a Barbie doll who reveals to Stinky Pete that Amy likes to give her dolls makeovers, much to the latter's horror.
- When Wheezy sings a reprise of "You've Got a Friend in Me" at the end of the movie, three Barbie dolls appear as backup singers.
- In the blooper reel, Woody turns Stinky Pete's box to reveal him talking to a pair of twin Barbies, telling them he's sure he can get them a part in Toy Story 3. This blooper, unfortunately, was cut from the 2019 4K and Digital releases.
- Tour Guide Barbie appears again at the very end of the blooper reel, where she says goodbye to the viewers and reminds them to properly dispose of their trash. After bidding everyone goodbye, she finally stops smiling and comments on it exaggeratedly:
Barbie: Oh, my gosh, my cheeks are killing me! I can't even keep smiling like this anymore! I am exhausted! - Barbie and Ken are prominent characters in Toy Story 3. Barbie is donated to Sunnyside by Molly, and Ken originally worked for Lotso. Barbie's relationship with Ken is what leads the latter to switch sides, and by the end of the movie, they become the new rulers of Sunnyside.
- Barbie and Ken re-appear in the Toy Story Toons short, "Hawaiian Vacation". The two end up in Bonnie's bedroom after a failed attempt to stow away on her trip to Hawaii, so the toys all try to create their own island paradise.
- At the beginning of Toy Story 4, three Barbie dolls appear in a flashback sequence where they assist Woody and Bo Peep in rescuing RC.
- In Lamp Life, a Barbie doll that previously belonged to Molly makes a cameo appearance as one of the little girl's toys.
- Toy Story 2:
Films — Live-Action
- The Florida Project: Some of the kids can be seen playing with Barbies.
- Fred Claus: During the scene where Fred fights the Mall Santa army in the Toys R Us, some Barbies can be seen on the shelves.
- Jackpot! (2024): In the trailer, Katie comments that a room full of mostly Caucasian actresses must be for a Barbie reboot.
- Jingle All the Way: There is a scene near the end with a large parade of famous cartoon characters and mascots. Barbie (portrayed by Deena Driskill) can be seen driving a pink convertible in the parade in a few shots.
- Legally Blonde 2: Red White and Blonde: Elle gets a job in Washington, D.C., and a member of Victoria Rudd's staff refers to her as "Capitol Barbie".
- Muppets From Space: While the Muppets try to escape the government research facility, Dr. Honeydew uses a formula to conjure up a door for them to pass through a wall with. However, the door turns out to be way too small for them to fit through, and Miss Piggy quips, "Perfect. Somebody knock and see if Barbie's home".
- My Girl: When Harry and Shelly start dating each other, Vada begins to develop a grudge against Shelly. She compares it to how she used to like playing with her Barbie and Ken dolls, with Ken being her favorite, until one Christmas when she got them a camper van, and all they wanted to do was hang out in it by themselves. She wasn't too upset when they took that wrong turn and went over a cliff.
- Small Soldiers: Chip Hazard stumbles across a collection of Christy's "Gwendy" dolls, which are pretty obviously meant to be Bland-Name Product versions of Barbie.
Literature
- In The Berenstain Bears Count Their Blessings, the Bearbie doll is a spoof of Barbie.
- In one Captain Underpants book, when the boys are shopping for a Susie Sunshine friendship bracelet-making kit, the toy store has a morbidly-obese version of Barbie called "Carbie" in stock. Also shown on the next page is "Carbie Dream Obesity Clinic".
- In the Carl Hiaasen novel Sick Puppy, the Big Bad of the novel played with his sister's Barbie dolls as a young boy, and wants to makeover two prostitutes to look like twin Barbie dolls. The disclaimer at the beginning of the novel also references the doll:To the best of the author's knowledge, there is no such licensed product as a Double-Jointed Vampire Barbie, nor is there a cinematic portrayal thereof.
- In the The Dresden Files short "A Restoration of Faith" Faith Astor relates that her parents bought her a bunch of Barbie toys (when she wanted a simple baby doll), then told her to leave them in their packages so they'd retain their collectible value.
- In Parable of the Talents, Asha recalls an incident with a doll that matches Barbie's description (a young white woman with a very thin build, blonde hair, blue eyes, feet shaped in a permanent tip-toe, and a scrap of pink cloth for clothing). Her adopted mother burns the doll in front of her and makes three-year-old Asha hold the still-burning lump of melted plastic to instill a fear of Hell in the kid.
- In Rules, David drops a Barbie doll into the fishtank. Catherine has to rescue her.
Live-Action TV
- Full House: In "Play it Again, Jesse", Stephanie borrows a sweater from D.J. against the latter's wishes and accidentally gets some mustard on it when she samples some Funky Franks at the supermarket. When she gets home, she frantically puts the sweater in the washing machine. When she gets the sweater out, it is clean, but has shrunken small enough to fit Michelle, who is delighted, especially because she says it'll fit her Barbie dolls.
- Heartstopper (2022): Imogen's Halloween Cosplay is Barbie.
Music
- Aqua's hit single "Barbie Girl" depicts Barbie as the ultimate submissive girlfriend, and earned the band a lawsuit from Mattel. Despite this, some commercials in The New '10s included a cover of the song.
Toys
- American Girl character Julie Albright had a doll-sized version of the 1974 Quick Curl Barbie Beauty Center in her collection.
Web Comics
- The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob!: Molly has Barbie's sister Skipper dating Duo Maxwell from Gundam Wing. They and Molly's other toys have bizarre adventures together in Molly's Dollies Theater.
Web Video
- The Angry Video Game Nerd: In "Episode 102: The Making of an AVGN Episode", the Nerd reviews the Barbie Licensed Game for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Hi Tech Expressions.
- Some episodes of Bootleg Zones are about bootleg Barbie dolls. Some examples include Steffi Love from Germany, and Sweet Beauty Girl and Pretty Girl from Canadian dollar stores. Steffi Love even became a recurring character, portrayed as a Cockney-accented supervillain.
- Caddicarus has reviewed two Barbie licensed games in his "The Horrifying World of PS1 Games For Babies" video; Barbie: Explorer and Barbie: Race & Ride.
- Neopets offers items to dress your Scorchio like the 2006 Holiday Barbie.
- The Nostalgia Critic:
- In "Return of the Nostalgic Commercials", the Critic reviews a commercial for the 1987 Barbie Ferrari. During this time, he questions why girl toys like Barbie are bigger than boy toys like Micro Machines and G.I. Joe action figures.
- In "Revenge of the Commercials", the Critic reviews a commercial for the 1989 Dance Club Barbie doll.
- In "Conquest For the Commercials", the Critic reviews a commercial for the 1993 Bedtime Barbie doll, saying if it was marketed towards boys, it would be a sex doll, and showing his own commercial along that line.
- The Critic has reviewed Barbie in the Nutcracker.
- In his review of Toy Story 2, which features an appearance of Tour Guide Barbie, the Critic imitates her, asking the toys if they'd like to take down The Patriarchy and watch Oppenheimer immediately after. He then imitates Hamm, who asks her what kind of random fanbase she attracted.
- SuperMarioLogan: In "Bowser Junior's Summer Vacation", when Junior and Cody go to Toys R Us, Cody buys a doll of Ken (specifically based on his incarnation from Toy Story 3). Cody believes that Ken is real and shares a lot of his closet homosexual traits with him, and his relationship with Ken has become the subject of many episodes.
Western Animation
- In the 6teen episode "Boo, Dude", the Clones all dress up as "Khaki Barn Barbie" for Halloween, which makes them even harder to tell apart than normalHere's how!.
- Dexter's Laboratory:
- Among Dee Dee's toys are two dolls: a blonde named Darbie, and a muscular brunette named Ben.
- In one episode, Dexter and his friends accidentally end up involved with people (mostly women) who collect Kristal dolls. Kristal is a blonde fashion doll with such sets as "Bicentennial Kristal".
- Monster High (2022): "The Babysitter's Crypt" has a character mentioning owning a "Scarbie" doll. Doubles as a Company Cross Reference, as the Barbie and Monster High brands are both owned by Mattel.
- Robot Chicken:
- A sketch from "Shoe" has Barbie and Ken engage in intercourse, only for Barbie to be turned off over Ken's lack of a penis.
- A sketch from "Yancy the Yo-Yo Boy" has Barbie as a contestant on MTV's Exposed.
- A sketch from "Due to Constraints of Time and Budget" has a mother give her daughter a Barbie doll against the wishes of her grandmother, due to Barbie being an Affirmative Action Girl. The daughter decides to go on adventures with her Barbie doll and dies in a race car accident as a result.
- A sketch from "Poisoned by Relatives" features Barbie on The Fattest Fat Loser, not as a contestantnote , but as a trainer in a gym.
- A sketch from "Choked on a Bottle Cap" has Ken in a parody of Fight Club.
- A sketch from "Catdog on a Stick" features the Bratz killing Barbie in a parody of I Know What You Did Last Summer.
- A sketch from "Joel Hurwitz" has Barbie and Ken rescue Skipper from being a reluctant contestant on Bone Bus.
- A sketch from "Hopefully Salt" has Barbie and Ken in a parody of Gone Girl.
- A sketch from "Hermie Nursery in: Seafood Sensation" features a commercial for Ryan, Barbie's new toxic boyfriend.
- A sketch from "Snoopy Camino Lindo in: Quick and Dirty Squirrel Shot" has the pregnant Midge doll as one of the inhabitants of The Island of Recalled Toys.
- A sketch from "May Cause a Whole Lotta Scabs" has Rappin' Rockin' Barbie engage in a rap battle.
- A sketch from "May Cause Immaculate Conception" has Barbie appear in The Young & the Plastic, where she discovers that Ken has been cheating on her with other Barbies, who are revealed to be her long-lost twin sisters.
- A sketch from "May Cause Season 11 to End" involves Barbie assassinating George Washington so she can become George Washington Barbie.
- Rugrats: Angelica's Cynthia doll is a parody of Barbie.
- The Simpsons has Malibu Stacy. She's a ditzy blonde that was the focus of a whole episode, inspired by a real controversy over a talking Barbie which could say, "Math class is tough!". The episode "Women in Shorts" features a sequence inspired by the 2023 movie where a Malibu Stacy from "Malibu Stacy Land" confronts Shauna Chalmers over her immaturity.
- Tiny Toon Adventures: In "Once Upon a Star" (part of "Toon Physics"), Elmyra makes a wish that her Barbette doll were real so they could play together. Her wish comes true, but Barbette proves to be a big handful, and her attractive looks make Elmyra envious.