Earlier this week, the Internet was filled with messages, congratulatory and condemning, of Mattel, the producers of Barbie, for challenging stereotypes by featuring a boy playing with the world’s most famous doll. But it seems that the advertisement was not all it seemed.

The story centres around ‘Moschino Barbie’, a limited-edition tie-in doll with the Italian fashion house, Moschino, which was announced in October. The Barbie, which comes with a selection of doll-sized Moschino clothing and jewellery, was a huge hit with collectors, selling out in a hours when it released on November 9^th.

Days later, the corresponding advert for the doll became a viral hit online, drawing attention from all sides for featuring a Mohawk-haired boy joining in the fun with two girls, happily playing with Barbie, her handbag, and mobile phone.

"Moschino Barbie is so fierce!" the little boy chirps in the, admittedly, camp advert, winking at the camera and stealing the scene.

But it transpires that the advert will never see the light of a television broadcast, and won’t be appearing on any TVs in the lead up to Christmas or during children’s programming.

In a statement sent to BBC News by Mattel, the company clarified that this was a "fauxmercial," intended to mock the tropes of Barbie advertising in the past, and featuring a creative wink to Moschino’s creative director, Jeremy Scott.

"This video parodies iconic Barbie commercials from the 1980s starring a young Jeremy Scott look alike. The video celebrates how boys and girls alike play with Barbie - it's all about self-expression, fashion, imagination and storytelling," the statement said.

Mattel confirmed that it was involved in the production of the advert, but that Scott acted as the commerical’s creative director, and that the video is only found on Moschino’s YouTube channel – and not Barbie's.

"When I dreamt up the concept for the Moschino Barbie fauxmercial, I felt it was natural to have a little boy representing for all the little boys like myself who played with Barbies growing up," Scott wrote in his own statement on the matter.

"Barbie was more than a toy, she was a muse for me."

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