Emily Duprie
With the upcoming live-action film “Barbie” hitting theaters in July, folks everywhere are chatting about the iconic character yet again. Barbie dolls have always held their own, and because the campy name is so popular, many influencers have incorporated it into their stage names.
Not only is Barbie a nickname for the popular name “Barbara,” the abbreviation itself has been used to name real, living people. For example, YouTuber and former porn-star Trisha Paytas recently named her child Malibu Barbie, and honestly people are eating it up.
Unfortunately, copyright infringement can be a pesky ordeal, especially for one famous social media influencer who has gone by the name “Bunny Barbie” for over 15 years. After receiving a cease-and-desist from Mattel, the toy company and founder of “Barbie,” Bunny was ultimately forced to give up the second half of her username on TikTok.
Bunny, who previously held the username @bunnybarbie on TikTok, was coerced into revealing her family’s last name. You may wonder, how could that be? Well as it turns out, anyone who’s verified on TikTok can only change their tag if the replacement is their legal name. Strange, I know.
Bunny explained in a post to her account how, despite thousands of people using the name “Barbie”, she was the only one being “targeted” by Mattel. Having done PR deals with the toy company in the past, the TikToker called out the accusers in her clip, saying “Mattel had no problem sending me PR, sending me to events…They know that there’s no infringement on their trademark.”
Bunny had been using the name “Barbie” for everything for the past 15 years. As some celebrities prefer to use their stage names to obtain privacy, this influencer was no different. “It’s on my medical records, it’s on my documents. It’s literally on everything I’ve done for the last 15 years.” Bunny states with frustration. She explained that because she “was just a normal mom starting TikTok, I [she] wanted to give my [her] family some privacy and keep that name.”
After receiving a cease-and-desist from Mattel, the lifestyle influencer explained her situation to her 2.1 million followers on TikTok:
In the end, Bunny decided to avoid a lawsuit with a major corporation such as Mattel and changed her username to @bunnyhedaya. As of 1 hour ago (Jan.13) she had received yet another cease-and-desist. Whether it was also from Mattel is unclear, but the TikToker posted a video of herself and her pink, leather pants-clad lawyer, who is also viral on TikTok (@attorneymartinez), ripping the document to shreds in front of her private jet.
Viewers and fans of Bunny were outraged at the change.
Their anger pointed towards Mattel, as most of us can agree attacking a known ally for using a name thousands of others are also using is pretty messed up.
