Warner Bros. apologises for insensitive replies to 'Barbenheimer' memes on Twitter

The Warner Bros. Film Group has apologised after its official Barbie movie Twitter account in Japan replied insensitively to a "Barbenheimer" meme featuring Barbie actress Margot Robbie with an atomic bomb-like mushroom cloud hairstyle.

According to its statement released on 31 July, Warner Bros. Japan said it regretted to hear that the official Barbie movie account reacted inappropriately to the social media postings of ''Barbenheimer'' fans. "We are asking the U.S. headquarters to take appropriate action. We apologise to those who were offended by this series of inconsiderate reactions," the statement read.

A check by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE saw on Twitter that the statement has garnered nearly 40 million views three days after its release. Many netizens from Japan commented that they didn’t accept the apology and would not watch Barbie which is going to release on 11 August in Japan, five days after the 78th anniversary of the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima, one of the worst tragedies in Japan's history. Currently, the hashtag #NoBarbenheimer is trending. 

This came as the Warner Bros.' official Barbie account in Japan responded insensitively to two online edited photos, with one featuring Barbie actress being set with an atomic bomb-like mushroom cloud hairstyle, to which the Barbie account responded: "This Ken is a stylist!". In another photo shared by the official Twitter account of DiscussingFilm, Oppenheimer actor Cillian Murphy is seen holding Barbie on his shoulders with a background of a nuclear explosion, and the Barbie account replied: "It's going to be a summer to remember."

Don't miss: 3 key takeaways for adland players from Barbie's US$150m marketing strategy

Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, has been everywhere recently. It was recently revealed by Variety that the marketing budget given to the team was an estimated US$150 million, just over the US$145 million production budget that was used to create the film. 

With the enormous budget, the Barbie team took to the streets to spread the word, collaborating with fashion brands such as Aldo, Zara, Crocs and more to put out hot pink collections and creating massive activations such as a giant Barbie dreamhouse with Airbnb and a building sized 3D ad in Dubai. 

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