The box office success of “Barbie” appeared to inspire one activist actress to a viral marketing spoof convincing enough to fool corporate media.
The campaign featuring Daryl Hannah dropped Tuesday with a commercial, website and social media profiles promoting a supposed new line of Mattel dolls incorporating a fungi pun dubbed MyCelia Eco Warrior Edition.
Promoting her own environmental activist track record, Hannah lamented the use of plastics and expressed, “Barbie and I are about the same age except, she will never die.”
The video press release went on to claim, “I am proud to announce that by 2030 all Mattel toys will be plastic-free, starting with the iconic Barbie doll…Mattel will also support the federal ban on all plastics in kids’ toys and on single-use plastics.”
So convincing was the viral campaign that a spokesperson for the toy company issued a statement reported by the New York Post, “This is a hoax and has nothing to do with Mattel or any of its products.”
Of course, the reality came after outlets like People and the Washington Times had reportedly already run articles treating the launch as a legitimate decision, forcing them to pull the stories.