A new study published in the journal JAMA Network Open found that the ending of the popular movie Barbie in 2023 influenced interest in gynecology on the Internet. CNN writes about it, UNN reports.
Details
When Barbie leaves her fantasy land and enters the real world, she must take care of her health, including visiting a gynecologist. This moment in the movie attracted the attention of not only viewers but also researchers.
An analysis of 34 gynecology-related queries showed that during the week after the movie's release in July 2023, the number of searches for “gynecologist” and “gynecology” increased by 51%. In addition, interest in the queries “definition of a gynecologist” and “what does a gynecologist do?” increased by 154% compared to the previous week.
Examples from pop culture can influence people's health behavior. For example, Katie Couric's colonoscopy broadcast in 2000 increased the number of procedures by 21%, and Angelina Jolie's essay on breast cancer led to a 64% increase in genetic testing. These and other cases inspired researchers to study the “Barbie effect” on interest in women's reproductive health.
“By making these topics less abstract, scary or frightening, just by mentioning them in movies and other everyday things, people become more aware of what women face every day,” says Eva Seneschal, lead author of the study and a PhD student at McGill University in Montreal.
However, the study showed that search queries related to “gynecologist appointment” remained at the same level. The authors noted that the increase in the number of visits to gynecologists may not be easy to detect due to search trends.