“Surfing Barbie” sparks outrage for Filipina cosplay

"Hi Karolina, I wanted to take a moment to talk to you about the Philippine Flag..."

I woke up early, this morning, per the usual, rubbed my eyes, snagged my reading glasses off the nightstand and fetched my phone, wondering if anything newsworthy had happened in our surfing sphere. A quick scroll taught me that new wave pools are being planned in both San Francisco and Houston, piano man Billy Joel is a secret surf industry enthusiast, a high surf advisory has been issued for Hawaii’s south facing shores and… this is where my heart stopped… “Surfing Barbie” was under attack for a bit of cultural appropriation.

“Oh no…” I immediately thought. What did Caroline Marks do?

Feeling scared but needing to be brave, I squinted, clicked and became very relieved that the current world number 6 was not under any sort of attack. The “Surfing Barbie” in question happening to be the Dubai-based Pole Karolina Agata Sankiewicz.

Now, I don’t know if you are as familiar with Sankiewicz’s work as you should be. The social media influencer, who boasts an impressive 1m followers on Instagram, has made a name for herself by wake surfing in various unconventional getups. Generally fancy heels, gowns and hundred thousand dollar handbags.

Yesterday, she decided to celebrate the Philippines ahead of its upcoming independence day.

“We wanted to honor Filipino culture and community—especially here in the UAE, where the Filipino community is such a vibrant and essential part of society. I love you Philippines,” the platinum blonde declared.

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A post shared by Karolina Agata Sankiewicz (@boss_baby001k)

While her intentions might have been pure, many were none too pleased.

“Hi Karolina,” one concerned follower began, “I wanted to take a moment to talk to you about the Philippine Flag. As a Filipino, I wanted to share with you the significance and importance of our national flag.”

After doing such, he ended, “We appreciate your enthusiasm and interest in our culture. However, we hope you can understand that using our flag in a surfing video, even if unintentionally, may be perceived as disrespectful.”

Another added, I think the use of our flag in a surfing video does not conform to its lawful use as provided in RA 8491, specifically this section shown. Also, there is a proper way of folding the flag. It cannot be folded in a manner that’s convenient to the bearer.”

Still another, “Using the flag in this way – surfing with it in the water – does appear to cross the legal and cultural boundaries of proper flag etiquette in the Philippines. It would generally be seen as misuse under RA 8491.”

And on and on and on.

Sankiewicz, attempting to put out the fire, jumped into the comments herself, explaining, “I am holding the Philippines flag with respect, wearing national Philipiniana outfit from Philippines, this video was made for the upcoming Independence Day as my team members are from Philippines we respect and value each other and support that’s why we made this video so everyone around the world can celebrate Philippines Independence Day.”

At time of writing, it is unclear if the “some of my best employees are Filipino” defense has worked or not.

Maybe a silver lining, though? It would be hoped that the World Surf League has a team busily studying RA 8491 for when a Championship Tour surfer jumps to Team Philippines ahead of the ’28 LA Olympics thus affixing the flag to singlet.

Proper use etc.

More as the story develops.