This Barbie-Inspired Pink Lemonade Is the Perfect Canned Summer Drink

Perhaps we should have seen it coming when Pantone announced that its pick for Color of the Year was an electric shade of magenta, but 2023 is shaping up to be a big year for the world's most popular doll: Barbie. Of course, a majority of the buzz comes ahead Greta Gerwig’s much-anticipated film, Barbie, which is set to hit theaters in July, and it seems like there's no stopping the pink-clad trend.

First was Barbiecore, a fashion and beauty trend that swept across TikTok with its whimsical color palettes and mid-mod cues. Then it came for the interior design world with the announcement that HGTV would air a reality competition series known as Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge, along with colorful Barbie collaborations with furniture and décor companies like Joybird and Ruggable. Recently, Gap even announced that it would launch a line of Barbie-themed apparel and accessories this month.

So it’s not a huge shock that the Barbie craze has made its way into the drink market with Swoon, the charming and relatively new women-owned beverage company. In a collaboration with Mattel, Swoon has announced a special limited-release lemonade—and it’s pink, of course.

The brand launched its first line of zero-sugar lemonades and iced teas in 2020 to much acclaim (and their Peach Tea is a customer favorite). Since then, the beverage brand has become known for Instagram-worthy campaigns like their recent collaboration with Chamberlain Coffee for ready-to-drink Matcha Lemonade.

Like their other lemonade offerings, the new Barbie x Swoon Pink Lemonade is fruity and tart with no sugar, five calories, and 100 percent of the recommended daily dose of vitamin C. The pink lemonade is also slightly sweeter than their classic lemonade—making it an excellent candidate for summer cocktails and mocktails.

Swoon’s reduced amount of sugar isn’t an afterthought—t is the whole reason they exist. Co-founders Jennifer Ross and Cristina Ros Blankfein started the company because they couldn’t find what they wanted in bars and stores. Ross, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at an early age, wanted interesting, delicious beverages that were not loaded with sugar. Blankfein—who loves to make mojitos—wanted a healthier way to make her signature drink and other cocktails that call for sugar. The two (who are both Harvard Business School graduates) launched their own research and development project and discovered that monk fruit provided the sweetness they were looking for without the high-glycemic index hit. Soon after, they developed the zero-sugar simple syrup ($12, Swoon) that would become the base for all of their lemonades and teas.

Barbie x Swoon Pink Lemonade is available everywhere Swoon is sold, and online at tasteswoon.com. A portion of the net sales from Barbie x Swoon Pink Lemonade sales will also support the Barbie Dream Gap Project, a global Mattel initiative that provides resources, curriculum, skills development, and leadership opportunities to girls between the ages of 5 and 10.  

“We are beyond excited to be partnering with a brand as iconic as Barbie,” said Ross in a press release. “Both of our brands focus on celebrating life’s little moments and elevating the everyday things we all do, so we hope this product can be a moment of joy for fans of both of our brands.”

There will even be a limited number of “Barbie Dream Refrigerators” sold in honor of the collaboration. The show-stopping pink appliances will come in countertop and full-size versions, either of which would make a fun addition to any dream house.