Toby Young Toby Young

Why Barbie deserves the backlash

Ryan Gosling as Ken and Margot Robbie as Barbie (Warner Bros. Pictures) 
issue 29 July 2023

Being the CEO of a massive corporation isn’t easy. You’re expected to grow the company, increase profits and boost the share price – the traditional responsibilities of a top hat-wearing capitalist. But at the same time, you need to align your company with the ‘values’ of a hyper-liberal global elite, e.g. anti-racism, trans rights and net zero. Contrary to the rhetoric of business school professors and management consultants, these agendas don’t always complement each other, and too much emphasis on one risks alienating those who care about the other. Get it wrong and you can come a cropper, as Dame Alison Rose, the recently departed CEO of NatWest, has discovered.

The film is a gender studies seminar disguised as a summer blockbuster

Having watched Barbie on Monday night, I cannot help feeling that Ynon Kreiz, the CEO of Mattel, has also slipped up. On the face of it, the 114-minute film about the company’s bestselling children’s toy, directed by Greta Gerwig, is a dazzling triumph.

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