Warner Bros shrugs off to risqué French pun on 'Barbie' poster

Greta Gerwig's forthcoming Barbie film gained unforeseen attention when an international poster became an internet sensation last week.

The French edition of the poster showcased Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken, appearing innocuous at first glance. However, the French tagline stirred up controversy due to a slang-based double entendre.

The tagline, "Elle peut tout faire. Lui, c'est juste Ken," which translates to "She can do everything. He's just Ken," carries a secondary meaning where "ken" is slang for "fuck" in French. Consequently, the tagline takes on an NSFW interpretation: "She knows how to do everything. He just knows how to fuck."

As expected, the internet quickly seized upon this linguistic mishap, with French Twitter users sharing photos of the poster along with comments on the "accidental" or "unfortunate" translation. The buzz spread like wildfire, and some of the original tweets gained millions of views.

A closer examination of the tagline seems to support this theory. The original English Barbie tagline, "Barbie is everything. He's just Ken," was translated differently in French. Instead of "Barbie est tout" (literal translation), it became "[Barbie] peut tout faire" ("Barbie can do anything"), which conveniently aligns with the slang-y Ken line and its suggestive connotations.

A French marketing executive from a competing studio remarked, "It's definitely deliberate; there's no way a French speaker wouldn't have noticed the dirty pun." The executive went on to praise the cleverness of slipping it into the campaign, acknowledging the genius behind the move.

When approached for comment, Warner Bros. declined to confirm or deny whether the risqué French pun was intentional or accidental. Nevertheless, they openly expressed their satisfaction with the social media frenzy the poster created both in France and internationally.

A spokesperson from Warner Bros. Discovery stated, "The speculation surrounding the Barbie marketing campaign shows that there is a high level of awareness and significant excitement among the public for the upcoming release of our film in France. We can't wait for audiences around the world to see the film upon its release next month."