Decorating The Barbie Set Caused An International Pink Paint Shortage

Can we just pause and soak in this perfect moment when we have this absolutely bonkers "Barbie" movie on the horizon, starring the biggest young actors of their generation and directed by the extremely well-respected Greta Gerwig? In an industry that is so driven by algorithms and playing it safe, this movie still managed to happen. And, as a nice little bonus, it actually looks super fun.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that this zany-looking movie already has a ridiculous claim to fame and it's not even out yet. Turns out, "Barbie" was made as "authentically artificial" as possible, which means in order to capture the exact tone Gerwig was after the art department constructed and painted everything they could by hand. Even the sky!

Well, guess what? The movie is so abundantly pink that they used so much of the very specific shade of pink that is the "Barbie" identity that they literally caused a worldwide pink paint shortage. The shade was Rosco fluorescent pink and the production used gallons upon gallons upon gallons of it, which caused the manufacturer to ... well, run out.

The movie wasn't the only reason pink was in short supply

While it is true that the production used a boatload of Rosco fluorescent pink paint (we know this because production designer Sarah Greenwood and set decorator Katie Spencer spilled the tea with Teen Vogue), the legend of it being the sole reason that shade was unavailable is a tad exaggerated. 

Vulture talked to Rosco's vice president of global marketing, Lauren Proud, and got a few more details. Turns out that shade was already in short supply thanks to the global supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and all that was exacerbated when the absolutely brutal multi-day-long deep freeze we had here in Texas in 2021 damaged a lot of materials Rosco used to make their paint. 

Still, "Barbie" can totally claim that they used everything that was available and they probably could have used more, so they're not exactly lying when they say they used up the global supply of that particular shade. There's just a little bit of background that, pardon the pun, colors the tall tale a bit. 

"Barbie" has a massive to-die-for cast including Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Dua Lipa, John Cena, Will Ferrell, Simu Liu, Kate McKinnon, Rhea Perlman, America Ferrera, Michael Cera, Hari Nef, and Issa Rae. The film is directed by Greta Gerwig from a script she co-wrote with Noah Baumbach, and will hit theater screens this summer, July 21, 2023, to be precise. 

And it will be glaringly pink.