“Barbiemania” has taken hold in Russia, says Maria Sotnikova in The Sunday Times. Warner Bros, the owner of the screening rights to the film, withdrew from the country over the war in Ukraine. But a pirated version, released on 14 September, as a “pre-session service” before another advertised film, so “officially”, audiences are not paying to see. But they are wearing pink on the streets, eating at “Barbie-style” restaurants and paying RUB500 (£4.25) to visit a “House of Barbie” at a Moscow shopping centre, with entertainers dressed as Barbie and Ken. Even US-owned Instagram turned pink despite being an “extremist resource”.
