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Did the Barbie Movie Cause a Global Pink Paint Shortage?

Living room with pink walls, a pink couch and plants in pink pots.
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We all know Barbie’s world is full of pink, so it’s not surprising that the highly anticipated Barbie movie includes everything pink, from shades of pastel to the iconic bright hot pink colour. Well, so much pink paint was used, it created a global paint shortage.

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According to the film’s production designer Sarah Greenwood, the set construction on the Greta Gerwig-directed film caused an international paint shortage. “The world ran out of pink,” she told Architectural Digest.

Related: The Top 10 Most Popular Paint Colours in Canada Might Surprise You

How Did They Run Out of Pink Paint?

The Barbie production team used the shade Fluorescent Pink by Rosco to make Gerwig’s vision and Barbie’s world come to life.

“Maintaining the ‘kid-ness’ was paramount,” Gerwig says in an interview. “I wanted the pinks to be very bright, and everything to be almost too much.”

So, the team turned to Rosco which specializes in paint for the entertainment industry like film and theatre productions.

Before filming the movie, the paint company’s supply was lower than usual due to COVID-19’s stunted supply chain. Rosco also had less paint partly from a deep freeze that hit Texas in 2021, damaging essential materials that make paint.

Although the supply was already low, the company delivered everything they had and eventually was cleaned out of the vibrant pink.

Inspired in turning your home into a Barbie dream house? Check out some ways to embrace the Barbiecore aesthetic in your home aside from paint.



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