How Bratz is Redefining Pop Culture and Staying Relevant in the Digital Age

By creating doll-inspired recreations and focusing on social media-driven content, the toy brand has amassed millions of followers and found a reliable way to go viral.

What do Beyoncé, Mia Farrow, Jacob Elordi, and Carmela Soprano have in common? We can imagine how they’d appear as Bratz dolls.

The nearly 25-year-old Bratz brand has become famous for recreating iconic moments from pop culture, including paparazzi photos, memes, music videos, red carpets, and more, all through its social media presence. A 2022 video, where animated Bratz dolls reenact a scene from the HBO show Euphoria, has gained over 42 million views and 10 million likes on TikTok alone.

Josh Hackbarth, the CMO of Bratz’s parent company, MGA Entertainment, shared that the brand purposely recreates figures who are influencers in music, art, and fashion to stay at the “cutting edge of culture.”

Bratz, he explained, has always had a reputation for being bold and sometimes controversial, but it might still catch people off guard to see the brand promoting things like “cocktail Fridays” or classic horror films such as Nosferatu and The Substance, which aren’t aimed at children. According to Hackbarth, this shift is intentional: the brand has moved its focus from children to Gen Z and younger millennials online—those who may have enjoyed the dolls as kids or watched Bratz’s shows and movies in the 2000s.

“We’ve grown with our audience,” Hackbarth said, adding, “What’s trending in pop culture trickles down from young adults to kids and up to parents and older generations.”

Bratz has built a following of more than 5.5 million people across TikTok and Instagram. While not all young adults collect the dolls, Hackbarth pointed out that fan engagement, brand identity, and cultural relevance are far more important than sales numbers.

“You don’t last 25 years by just focusing on sales,” he remarked.

The Endless Bratz Summer

Creating a true Bratz-style recreation takes a “scrappy” social team that stays closely connected to current pop culture while having the freedom to act quickly, Hackbarth explained. This flexibility is crucial when it comes to live events like the Met Gala or the VMAs. One Instagram post that reimagined Chappell Roan, Doechii, and Lady Gaga’s outfits from the Grammy Awards racked up over 600,000 likes and was created in just 18 hours, from idea to finished post.

However, speed doesn’t mean shortcuts: Hackbarth emphasized that the creative team does not rely on AI for their recreations.

As with other major pop culture events, the social media account Pop Crave regularly shares Bratz’s posts, helping to spread their re-creation of the Grammys red carpet organically to its 1.9 million followers on X.

“Timing is crucial in this space,” Hackbarth stated. “That’s really what has kept our fans engaged… they expect us to comment on what’s happening daily.”

Hackbarth explained that he mostly allows the social and production teams to drive the direction of content for Bratz’s social accounts, whether it’s a throwback to The Simple Life or a nod to the cast of Challengers. “There’s a lot of trust that some brands might not be comfortable with, but we know our team is in tune with culture and passionate about Bratz,” he said, adding, “Me getting too involved in the approval process won’t be helpful.”

In some cases, the Bratz team will reach out to movie studios to request permission to recreate trending scenes, but generally, Hackbarth noted, the studio and talent sides have been very supportive of the brand’s posts. For instance, when Bratz recreated Chappell Roan’s Statue of Liberty outfit, Roan herself showed appreciation with a simple “AHHH” comment.

Bratz, Never Outdated

While Bratz is known for recreating trending content, the brand is also venturing into producing its own original content. MGA’s in-house entertainment team, in collaboration with its animation studio Pixel Zoo, produces not only recreation videos but also the weekly social series Alwayz Bratz. The show features episodes under two minutes, highlighting original characters from 2001. Season 1 of Alwayz Bratz earned approximately 50 million organic views across both platforms, and its second season launched last month.

The concept behind Alwayz Bratz was partly inspired by feedback from the Bratz audience, Hackbarth explained. The decision to create a short-form show for platforms like Instagram and TikTok, rather than a longer format for YouTube (where Bratz previously shared full episodes and compilations from its 2000s TV series on Fox), was driven by the preferences of Gen Z and millennials for brief content and the platforms they use most.

This series enables Bratz to craft its own narratives and bring its original characters into a contemporary setting. One recent episode, which featured the dolls discussing peptide creams and referencing the reality series Vanderpump Rules, garnered over 1.6 million views on TikTok alone, all organically and without any paid promotions.

“We’re not forcing this,” Hackbarth said. “We’re simply posting it on our channels.”

Bratz in the Collector’s World

While not every Gen Z or millennial collects Bratz dolls in real life, the brand boasts a significant collector base, Hackbarth noted—so much so that Bratz occasionally collaborates with collectors on user-generated content. The brand’s direct-to-consumer shop, which mainly operates through social media and sells dolls, has been another successful venture since its launch last year, though Hackbarth declined to share any revenue figures.

While Bratz has long been known for reimagining celebrities as dolls, the brand has only recently started creating actual, purchasable celebrity dolls. In 2023, Bratz released its first celebrity doll, a Kylie Jenner figure, followed by dolls of Mean Girls characters and Colombian singer Karol G. While Hackbarth didn’t reveal who the next celebrity doll might be, he mentioned that the brand is always considering new possibilities.

As Bratz continues to share its re-creations online, the demand for physical celebrity dolls has become clear in the comment sections. “Every time we post something, the first question is, ‘When will this be available?’” Hackbarth said.

Even celebrities have taken notice. Last year, a viral post featuring Jenna Ortega and Sabrina Carpenter in a Taste music video reimagined as Bratz dolls caught the attention of both stars. Ortega even commented, “We want them. I’m writing an email to Bratz as we speak.”