The devil works hard, but the Barbie marketing team works harder.
In the run up to Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster Barbie movie, hot pink advertising has cropped up everywhere, from shoe stores to the London Eye; game consoles to Doctor Who’s Tardis.
Barbie Fever is real, folks, and it even caused an international pink paint shortage.
But it isn’t the first time Barbie Fever has swept the world.
In fact, toy company Mattel, which makes Barbie, was pulling off similar hot pink stunts all the way back in 1997, in the city of Salford no less.
25 years ago, Ash Street in Langworthy, Salford, was turned into a Barbie dreamland literally overnight when Mattel chose the location to celebrate Barbie’s 38th birthday.
One day, residents woke up to their whole street – from the gutters to the doorsteps – doused in pink paint.
Even windows and doors were adorned with the iconic Barbie pink, while pink poodles, cars and even smoke came from all directions.
Sadly, rain meant that roofs and tarmac couldn’t be successfully painted. Instead, a hot pink carpet replaced the road for a few days.
At the end of the stunt, the houses were reformed to their former redbrick, but one resident missed the vibe that the hot pink street created.
‘Painting the street pink really brought all the residents together,’ Bicky Ludlow, who had lived in a £50-a-week rented house on the street for six months, told the Manchester Evening News.
‘It always was friendly but pink seemed to do something extra.’
Vicki reportedly asked her landlord if they could keep the pink house.
Unfortunately, the answer was a ‘definite no,’ but it’s obvious to us that Barbie has always been great at bringing people together.
‘It brought out the best in people,’ said Vicki.
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