Last year, health experts predicted the “mic drop” joke in the blockbuster’s final scene Barbie The film would have serious real-world implications, prompting viewers to seek reproductive health care they may have needed, been putting off, or perhaps never considered.

Now it seems they were right, as a new study finds that following the film’s release, there was a spike in internet searches on the topic.

For those who have not seen the film, Eva Sénéchal, a psychology researcher at McGill University in Montreal, and her colleagues who conducted the new analysis of Internet search trends, explain how the last line in the Barbie The film may have done more than just make audiences laugh.

“In the final scene of the film, after she decides to leave Barbieland and go into 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 genitalia or on her apparent enthusiasm for a procedure that many women find unpleasant,” Sénéchal and colleagues write in their article.

“We suspected that this last option might have sparked public interest in gynecological care.”

The researchers recorded weekly Internet searches in the US, Barbie 34 terms are being searched, from questions about the tasks of gynecologists to more general search terms such as “gynecologist near me”, “make an appointment with a doctor” and “Pap smear”.

There has been a positive increase in searches specifically related to gynecologists: Questions such as “Why go to the gynecologist?” and “Do I need a gynecologist?” more than doubled year-on-year in the three months following the film’s release in July 2023.

However, searching for information about gynecologists is only the first step in finding this type of specialist. The study did not examine other data that might have captured whether moviegoers were influenced to make or keep appointments, but trends in other search terms suggest this is not the case.

“There were no changes in the search for gynecological appointments, suggesting that the search for information about gynecologists did not lead to searches for new gynecological treatments,” write Sénéchal and colleagues.

“It therefore remains unclear whether a ‘Barbie “A higher awareness effect would translate into improved, measurable health outcomes.”

But it is not impossible; it has happened before.

When actress Angelina Jolie revealed in 2013 that she had undergone a bilateral mastectomy after testing positive for an inherited breast cancer gene, referrals for genetic counseling and testing doubled in the UK – a trend that has been dubbed the “Angelina Jolie effect”.

The Barbie The film may also have had a larger impact on body image, just like the dolls themselves. Research shows that Barbie dolls, which traditionally depict extreme and unrealistic body shapes, can influence young girls’ ideas about their body image and eating habits, although the results are mixed.

“We know that children learn by observing, absorbing, and imitating the things they see around them, and that their early ideas about weight and appearance are shaped by their family, peers, and the media,” wrote Zali Yager, a body image researcher, for Agenda for Women’s Health after seeing the movie in July 2023.

However, it is difficult to separate the influence of these three factors – family, friends and (social) media – on a person’s self-perception or their behavior when seeking medical care in the case of this new analysis.

“There is so much context missing from these studies,” said clinical health psychologist Jennifer Webb of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Nature in an interview in July 2023, referring to the mixed results of research studies on Barbie Influence on the body image and self-esteem of young girls.

“We know nothing about other aspects of the children’s social environment, be it in the immediate home, at school or in other activities.”

The same is true of the new analysis by Sénéchal and colleagues: Internet search trends only provide us with a snapshot of people’s lives and tell us nothing about who these anonymous people are, their age or their health status.

Although we have no data to support this, some people may have been inspired to seek reproductive health care themselves because they Barbie The first appointment with the gynecologist “normalizes the experience,” physician and health policy researcher Leana Wen told CNN last year.

“It reinforces the understanding that reproductive health is an integral part of overall health.”

The study was published in JAMA network opened.