Just like Barbie!

By Mao Shan Wang

As I had expected, I was too late. Even the Starbucks barista told me so. To be sure, I wasn’t planning to buy any of the Blackpink merchandise; I just wanted to have a look. My interest in Blackpink is the same as my love of Taylor Swift: non-existent. But, I was curious. Would it be like the BTS-McD collab? On the shelves of the Starbucks that I went to, there was not a sight of anything Blackpink, not even a reusable straw from the reusable cups. I was told that last Tuesday, when the products were launched, there was a mad crush for them. I asked a staffer if indeed everything is now gone, and he helpfully told me that the merchandise sold out on the first day, with only one apron left, but that, too, was snapped up the day after. Who in the world would need a Blackpink apron? He said a-matter-of-factly, “quite crazy, lah.”

The one item still available is the “reusable cup” that can be had with the purchase of the special—“also limited-edition”, I was told—Blackpink Strawberry Choco Cream Frappucino, a frozen sippable with a layer of chocolate sauce at the bottom, strawberry Frappucino blended with chocolate chip, topped with pink(!) whipped cream and adorned with a “symbolic” heart-shaped chocolate. What it symbolizes I did not know and dared not ask. Nor how they made the whipped cream pink. The drink—admittedly, I was afraid to try—looks as sweet as the the entire package looks. One helpful barista told me that the Blackpink Strawberry Choco Cream Frappucino is “actually, quite sweet, lah.” I did get to examine the cup which is in rather sturdy matte plastic, adorned with “BLINK-approved motifs”, according to Starbucks: star, heart shape, diamond, crown, and a glitter I couldn’t identify, and the cryptic texts Born Pink and Pink Venom. Purchases come in a pink paperbag so that “you can show off your love for Blackpink”. A woman—phew, not in pink—was spotted with a tray of the Frappucino and the cup. I asked her if she liked the drink. “Have not tried it yet, but I paid $17+ for both. Better be good!”

Millennial pink may be threatened by Gen Z yellow, but this year, so far, has been awash with pink—as empowerment or whatever you want pink to do for you. As I held my cup of very un-pink brewed ‘Voyage’ blend, I thought I was, for a moment, in Barbieworld right there in not-dreamy, not-alt, not-meta Starbucks. Nowadays, we’re so caught in the marketing grasp of brands that we go to a movie about an until-now-vapid doll with a predilection for pink in, what else, pink (boyfriends not excluded). The hardcore will, of course, adopt Barbiecore (it’s been so pervasive, I’m tempted to call it Barbievore!). Do you not consider adopting the fashion and hue of a 64-year-old, immobile human likeness living in a plastic world cultural appropriation? Barbie pink is, for sure, the symbol of femininity, but the pink that she surrounds herself with, and now Starbucks adopts for their Blackpink merchandise and drink, is, to me, just too much, too manufactured, too maddening. It is a visual confection that is sweet to the senses—not just taste alone—but is, ultimately, cloying. I’ll have my kopi really kosong, any time.