Bubble Skincare Mixes Movies and Mental Health With Disney/Pixar Collab

Culture is to commerce as peanut butter is to jelly. Last year, the blockbuster “Barbie” movie unleashed a flood of pink-saturated toothbrushes, phone cases, Crocs, jeans, candles, doormats, Balmain sunglasses, and much more on shoppers nationwide. Seemingly every brand was eager for a piece of the rosy halo around the film’s iconic pop-culture heroine, a fixture in American life for over six decades. The $1.45 billion box office that “Barbie” delivered illustrates just how powerful culture can be for brands that seize the zeitgeist.

On the smaller screen, media companies are also making moves to monetize inspiring content. That’s what led Spanish-language TV network Univision to set up digital stores linked to last week’s Latin American Music Awards show, featuring legends from Marc Anthony to Thalìa. Our smartphones are rarely out of reach, even when we’re relaxing with our favorite shows, sports, and movies. Univision saw the potential in empowering viewers to immediately browse and buy fashion, beauty products, and other items related to the glamorous style that stars brought to the Latin AMA red carpet and center stage.

For Bubble Skincare CEO Shai Eisenman, the brand’s new collaboration lands in a world where digital erases the gap between culture and commerce. Bubble’s first-ever partnership puts the tween-friendly line of cleansers, moisturizers, and treatments in a brighter, big-screen spotlight.

This week, Bubble launched a new collection with emotion-inspired characters from the upcoming Disney/Pixar movie “Inside Out 2” featured on the packaging, from Joy and Envy to Sadness, Anxiety, and Ennui. For a brand based on community and promoting mental health, teaming up with a film focused on Riley, a 13-year-old girl processing scary new emotions, was a perfect fit, says Eisenman, who founded Bubble in 2020. And it doesn’t hurt that the original “Inside Out” grossed nearly $860 million in 2015, becoming the year’s seventh-best performer.

Bubble Skincare shot by Stephanie Gonot

“Bubble’s core values of helping our community face the day align perfectly with ‘Inside Out 2’s’ messaging of learning how to face new emotions,” she continues. “Skincare and emotions are intrinsically linked, and we first start to experience this as we hit puberty, as illustrated by Riley. For Bubble, this is so much more than a straightforward partnership — it’s a message to our community and the world that it’s okay to face your feelings, and we are here to help.”

Eisenman insists that embracing cultural trends and moments isn’t just a strategy — it’s fundamental to what Bubble strives to be for young people navigating a changing world. Culture, she says, is far more than just a market to tap into; it’s a crucial source of inspiration and a guiding light for Bubble’s brand ethos. “We actively engage with our community of 25,000+ brand ambassadors to understand where culture is going,” Eisenman points out, “and to ensure we create culturally relevant products and collaborations.”

Gen Z and Gen Alpha aren’t the only ones battling a torrent of emotions from one day to the next, but processing unfamiliar new feelings can take a toll on young people more so than other generations.

“Emotions are flowing at all ages — but especially when you’re younger — and there is a huge connection between that to your mental health,” Eisenman says. “We feel like it’s such a natural connection to skincare and to the brand, and this is why we felt like ‘Inside Out 2’ is the perfect collaboration for Bubble.”

The Bubble Skincare x Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” collaboration arrived on Bubble’s, Ulta’s, and Walmart’s digital shelves on Wednesday and will hit the latter two’s physical stores later this month before the movie opens in theaters on June 14.