MEXICO CITY — Latin America is taking Barbie mania to an extreme, with everything from pink-colored tacos and pastries, commercial planes bearing the Barbie logo, political ads and even Barbie-themed protests.
In Peru, anti-government demonstrators this week dressed up two women in pink and put them in giant Barbie boxes in the main square of Lima, the capital, to protest current President Dina Boluarte, under whose administration police have often clashed with protesters.
One actress, whose box was labeled “Barbie Dictator,” held a pink gun. The doll, according to the box legend, “includes tear gas and dum-dum bullets.” Another protester’s box was labeled “Genocidal Barbie.”
Meanwhile, stores, street vendors and restaurants throughout Latin America are offering up all sorts of Barbie-themed goodies.
In Mexico, there are Barbie tortillas (the corn dough is colored pink with beet juice, with some imprinted with an edible-dye pony-tailed Barbie silhouette); Barbie pastries and Barbie tacos (marinated pork meat served in pink tortillas and accompanied by a strawberry milkshake).
An entire Barbie-themed restaurant opened this week in Guayaquil, Ecuador; it is — of course — built to resemble Barbie’s house.
Volaris, a Mexican airline, has painted one of its jets with a Barbie logo and, according to a promotional video, the plane will be piloted by Barbie, not Ken.
The pink craze in the region is such that Barbie mania has now spread into politics.
In Guatemala, presidential candidate Sandra Torres shared a musical TikTok video pitching her as a Barbie who “wants prosperity for all.”
Mexican street sellers are peddling a Barbie doll modeled on presidential hopeful Claudia Sheinbaum, a real-life scientist-turned-politician whose own (real) ponytail has become her branding trademark.
The office of Colombian President Gustavo Petro recently raised hackles with a Barbie-theme video — including clips from the film’s trailer — to promote an independence day tour of the country. His office quickly removed the poorly made video. (AP)