Barbie's French Fling: Warner Bros Reacts to Viral Ken Campaign

Barbie's viral mistranslated poster has received a mysterious response from Warner Bros. The upcoming movie, set to release on July 21st, features Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken. Promoted across English-speaking countries with the tagline "She's everything. He's just Ken," the French version of the poster translates this tagline to "Elle peut tout faire. Lui, c’est juste Ken." However, this translation unintentionally uses the slang term "ken," which roughly translates to "She knows how to do everything. He just knows how to f*ck." As a result, the image went viral on Francophone Twitter.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, speculation regarding the mistranslation of the Barbie movie poster has been growing in France. Some believe that the looser translation of the first line was deliberately done to allow for the pun, suggesting that the naughty tagline was an intentional move by Warner Bros. The company, however, released a statement that avoided addressing the issue directly and instead highlighted the "high level of awareness" of the movie in France.

The anticipation and buzz generated by the Barbie marketing campaign indicate a significant level of public awareness and excitement for the forthcoming release of our film in France. We are eagerly counting down the days until audiences worldwide can finally witness the film upon its highly-anticipated debut next month.

So Was The French Barbie Tagline On Purpose Or Not?

Translation challenges often arise when global movies are released. For example, in the Italian market, Disney's Moana had to undergo a name change to Oceana. This decision was made to prevent the lead character from sharing a name with Moana Pozzi, an Italian pornographic actress. While translators may have overlooked some slang terms in the past, it is unlikely that a localization team of such a prominent company would have overlooked such a significant error. However, it is not entirely impossible.

Warner Bros.' response to the translation error may suggest that it was unintentional. However, if the tagline was intentionally designed to generate a viral moment, addressing the truth behind it could be seen as a triumph for their PR team. By not directly acknowledging the tagline, they may be trying to create confusion and make it appear as though the oversight was potentially deliberate.

The true nature of this French tagline will likely only be fully understood after the official release of Barbie. If it does turn out to be genuine, it would demonstrate that movie studios are becoming increasingly skilled at creating viral marketing strategies for their projects. Earlier this year, it was revealed that the viral dance featured in the first trailer of the horror movie M3GAN was specifically included to capture the interest of the online community, indicating that anything is possible in this realm.

Source: THR