Online searches reveal Barbie movie may have spurred interest in gynecology

Key takeaways:

• Online searches for terms related to gynecologists increased 1 week after the Barbie movie release.
• However, informational gynecologic searches did not translate to new care searches.

The Barbie movie may have increased women’s interest in seeking a gynecologist, which highlights the influence popular movies have on health literacy and awareness, according to study results published in JAMA Network Open.

“The movie Barbie was released July 21, 2023, and sold 12.8 million tickets during its debut weekend, becoming one of the highest grossing films ever,” Eva Sénéchal, BS, research assistant in the department of experimental medicine at McGill University Health Centre at Montreal Children’s Hospital, and colleagues wrote. “In the film’s final scene, after deciding to leave Barbieland for the real world, Barbie enthusiastically tells a receptionist, ‘I’m here to see my gynecologist,’ a joke that could be based either on her supposed lack of genitals or her evident excitement for care many women find unpleasant.”

Sénéchal and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional study that evaluated U.S. search trends following the release of the Barbie movie. Researchers identified 34 queries related to understanding or seeking gynecologic care, women’s health care or medical care and grouped search queries into the following categories: gynecologists, gynecologist definition, gynecologist appointment, women’s health, doctor and doctor’s appointment.

U.S. weekly online search trends in the year preceding and the 3 months following the release of the Barbie movie were obtained using Google Trends and Glimpse. Researchers compared search volumes before and after the release of the movie.

A week after the release of the movie, national online search volumes for terms related to gynecologists and gynecologist definition increased by 51.3% and 154.1%, respectively. However, according to the researchers, online searches for terms related to gynecologist appointments did not change, suggesting that gynecologist informational searches did not translate to searches for new care.

In addition, researchers observed no changes in search term categories that reflected broader health interest, such as doctor appointments. These results support the assumption that the increase in gynecologist-related online searches may have been influenced by the Barbie film and not other factors, the researchers noted.

“Our results suggest that Barbie’s closing line may have spurred interest in gynecology, further suggesting the potential influence of popular films on health literacy and awareness,” the researchers wrote. “While there were no changes in search volume associated with seeking care, a primary limitation of the study is that such changes in behavior may not be adequately captured by search trends, and in particular, they may be temporarily far removed from changes in awareness.”