Meet the new $95 American Girl doll -- She's homeless

[Cry Havoc]

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/wee-...less-doll.html

The wildly popular and outrageously pricey American Girl Store recently released a new doll. Her name is Gwen Thompson and she is homeless. According to her back story, her dad took off on the family, mom fell on hard times and now she sleeps in her car.

For $95 (not including any accessories), you can purchase her for your daughter (who is no doubt not homeless otherwise you wouldn't be able to spend nearly $100 on a doll).

Doesn't this seem like a sick joke? How can a place that openly celebrates excess and waste (like paying $25 to learn the secrets of doll hair stylists) seriously claim to be bringing attention to the plight of homeless children in our country?

Rather than devote our resources to making sure that children don't have to sleep in cars, we instead create a $95 doll in order to explain the homeless epidemic to our kids? This is just plain offensive.

American Girl has never been my favorite place. Several years ago, I went in to buy a baby doll for my daughter's first birthday and I have never been back. I guess I can stomach Kit Kittredge and her downright cute resourcefulness in the face of the Depression. I can also see the value in offering dolls that represent different cultures and backgrounds.

But I can't think of how Gwen Thompson could possibly to do anything to either help actual homeless children or teach kids about this serious problem. According to an ABC News Report, the company said that the doll was intended to help children tolerate differences and stand up to bullying. What? I totally don't get that.

I am waiting now to hear the public response from Mattel, the owner of American Girl. I hope that they announce that 100 percent of the proceeds from this ill-conceived doll are going to be donated to organizations that can actually do something to help homeless children rather than exploit them for commercial purposes.

[PM5K]

So basically women can't support their children alone without the help of a man, without him they become homeless.

Sounds about right...

[mrsmaalox]

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/wee-...less-doll.html

The wildly popular and outrageously pricey American Girl Store recently released a new doll. Her name is Gwen Thompson and she is homeless. According to her back story, her dad took off on the family, mom fell on hard times and now she sleeps in her car.

For $95 (not including any accessories), you can purchase her for your daughter (who is no doubt not homeless otherwise you wouldn't be able to spend nearly $100 on a doll).

Doesn't this seem like a sick joke? How can a place that openly celebrates excess and waste (like paying $25 to learn the secrets of doll hair stylists) seriously claim to be bringing attention to the plight of homeless children in our country?

Rather than devote our resources to making sure that children don't have to sleep in cars, we instead create a $95 doll in order to explain the homeless epidemic to our kids? This is just plain offensive.

American Girl has never been my favorite place. Several years ago, I went in to buy a baby doll for my daughter's first birthday and I have never been back. I guess I can stomach Kit Kittredge and her downright cute resourcefulness in the face of the Depression. I can also see the value in offering dolls that represent different cultures and backgrounds.

But I can't think of how Gwen Thompson could possibly to do anything to either help actual homeless children or teach kids about this serious problem. According to an ABC News Report, the company said that the doll was intended to help children tolerate differences and stand up to bullying. What? I totally don't get that.

I am waiting now to hear the public response from Mattel, the owner of American Girl. I hope that they announce that 100 percent of the proceeds from this ill-conceived doll are going to be donated to organizations that can actually do something to help homeless children rather than exploit them for commercial purposes.

Damn, "journalists" like this one really piss me off!! Now I am no big fan of American Girl, but I've had my fair share of exposure to them because I have a daughter, and she has an aunt who is a big fan of AG. So we have a couple of AG dolls in the house that were gifts but never generated much interest. First of all, if this writer did even the slightest research, she would know that the Gwen doll is not being marketed as a homeless girl. And it isn't hard to figure out how the dolls are marketed, which this writer doesn't seem to know. Each doll has a "story", and comes dressed accordingly and has a book or a book series about her background and life. Mainly they teach about different historical periods and ethnic backgrounds. This Gwen doll is a supporting character in the story of a doll named Chrissa who has recently moved to a new town with her family. She encounters a group of "mean girls" at her new school who do not accept her and make her life miserable. Gwen and another girl become friends with Chrissa because they too have been subjected to the bullying by the mean girls. Together they learn to stick up for themselves and put an end to the bullying. Bullying is a huge problem in schools these days and teaching girls how to deal with it, and teaching tolerance of economic and cultural differences is what these particular dolls are about----they do not attempt to teach about the plight of homeless children. I fully agree that AG can be pretentious and elitist, and ridiculously expensive, and if that was the author's point for disliking it, I wholeheartedly support it. But this is just made up, alarmist propaganda, ing without basis, for the sake of ing.

http://store.americangirl.com/agshop...port&sku=F9311

[xellos88330]

Wow... talk about a re ed company.

[Kermit]

i'm taking my daughters there next month. maybe i can buy a whiny ass doll for this blogger.

[MiamiHeat]

people still buy dolls?

i thought they would rather buy video games

or at LEAST, ACTION FIGURES!

[BacktoBasics]

I don't care what their message is. Anger towards dolls or their makers is a ing waste of time. Plenty of other worthwhile to vent about.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

What a poor marketing strategy. They created a doll whose back story all but forbids kids demanding a doll house and other accessories for them.

[angel_luv]

Thanks for posting Mrs. Maalox. I appreciated your insight.

[mrsmaalox]

Thanks for posting Mrs. Maalox. I appreciated your insight.

Thanks, Angel. What's funny is that I don't even care about American Girl, I'm just so sick of people (politicians, celebrities, journalists, activists) taking one morsel of information and twisting/inflaming it into something it isn't. Yes we crave information but please don't make up. I could go on and on about some of the most asinine "facts" that are given to me daily over the airwaves and the internet; it's maddening the amt of misinformation that people have to sift thru to form a true opinion. Hey maybe I should start a thread "BS I Heard Today" so everyone can vent!