Opinion: Why is the Barbie DreamHouse so creepy?

Writing in the Conversation, Dr Joana Jacob Ramalho (UCL SELCS) breaks down the latest in a series of global marketing stunts promoting Greta Gerwig's new film, a real-life Barbie DreamHouse created by Airbnb. A mass of hot pink emerges violently amid the green foliage, palm trees and shrubbery. Located in Malibu, the oceanfront Barbie DreamHouse created by Airbnb is the latest in a series of global marketing stunts to promote Greta Gerwig's new film Barbie, the first live-action adventure movie about the iconic Mattel doll. A closer aerial shot of the video - uploaded to Twitter by photojournalist John Schreiber - reveals a curved slide, with a small square pool at the bottom. On the pink and white wall behind the water slide, the Barbie logo has been graffitied over with Ken's name. The image then cuts to an infinity pool where a set of three giant custom pool floats spells "KEN". The bird's'eye view allows us to spy the deep shadows that each letter, swaying gently in the breeze, casts onto the bottom of the pool.