When moviegoers realised Barbie and Oppenheimer would be released in theaters during the same weekend, social media quickly came up with "Barbenheimer."
The subsequent hype surrounding these movies resulted in them both being hits, with Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures coming together in a way that maximised interest in the titles. It also led to a rather unique crossover thanks to the creation of posters which combine Margot Robbie's living doll with the story of Robert Oppenheimer creating the Atomic Bomb.
While it's all been meant in jest, it's easy to forget during a trend like this that the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children.
In response, Warner Bros. Japan recently issued a statement (via Toonado.com) criticising the social media activity of its U.S. counterparts.
A Tweet shared on the Japanese account for Barbie reads, "We consider it extremely regrettable that the official account of the American headquarters for the movie ‘Barbie’ reacted to the social media postings of ‘Barbenheimer’ fans. We take this situation very seriously. We are asking the U.S. headquarters to take appropriate action. We apologize to those who were offended by this series of inconsiderate reactions."
An example of the offending Tweets can be seen below, and it's easy to understand why the imagery being shared has caused such a great deal of upset (such as a mushroom cloud in the background of a shot with Barbie standing front and centre).
While they weren't made by Warner Bros., the fact this imagery was essentially given the seal of approval by the studio ultimately led to the backlash. Some Japanese social media users have even responded by mashing up imagery from Barbie with photos taken during 9/11.
The studio has now removed these Tweets and issued a brief statement in response which says, "Warner Brothers regrets its recent insensitive social media engagement. The studio offers a sincere apology."
Barbie and Oppenheimer are both playing in theaters.
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