$95 for a Homeless Doll? Really, American Girl?

[ThePantaloon.com]

I think it's pretty friggin' tactless. What do you think? Here's an article on the homeless doll that you can get for the low, low price of 95 bucks:

The New York Post is aghast that Mattel is releasing an American Girl doll named Gwen who is homeless. Writing for the Post, Andrea Peyser calls this action "all-out political indoctrination." As she sees it, Gwen is:

...a doll that comes with a biography that is weird and potentially offensive....Gwen, you see, is harboring a terrible secret.

She is homeless. A homeless doll.

In the history books that come with every American Girl doll...you learn that Gwen's father walked out on the family. Her mother lost her job....s fall turned into winter, Gwen's mom lost her grip.

Mother and daughter started bedding down in a car.

For $95 -- more than your average homeless person would dream of spending on a rather mediocre baby substitute -- Gwen Thompson can be yours. A mixed message if ever there was one.

Although I don't agree with Peyser overall, she's right about the mixed messages inherent in selling a homeless doll. The $95 price tag is a slap in the face to a homeless family unable to afford three meals a day.

Opening Up a Dialogue, or Slapping On a Band-Aid?

How does a toy manufacturer reconcile the excesses of privilege with the unmet basic needs caused by deprivation? By creating a character who faces these challenges and by manufacturing a doll in her likeness, is Mattel opening up a important dialogue? Or slapping a Barbie Band Aid on a social issue that's been prettified and commodified?

Whether or not we want to introduce the topic of homelessness at the family dinner table, it's a fact of American life. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness:

Every year 600,000 families with 1.35 million children experience homelessness in the United States, making up about 50 percent of the homeless population over the course of the year.

Although it may seem unethical for Mattel to make money off this very real tragedy, it's important to consider the roots of the American Girl concept.

http://womensissues.about.com/b/2009/09/24/was-it-wrong-for-american-girl-to-introduce-gwen-the-homeless-doll.htm

[Brickbat]

1. Oh, I've always hated American Girl. The American Girl store in Chicago tried to bust a union, and

the dolls themselves are made in China. Real effin' American there, American Girl!

[MidwestRick]

3. Curious

How did they try to bust a union at Water Tower?

[Brickbat]

7. My mistake -- it was in New York. Actors involved in an AG show tried to join the Equity in 2006

and management refused to meet with them. The actors went on a two-day strike to complain about unfair labor practices. Last year they tried again and AG made election complaints.

In New York, the production was hit by a strike in 2006, when actors involved in the shows attempted to join the Actors Equity Association, even after management turned down a request by the union to meet with them. That dispute flared up again in late last year, when actors again voted to join the union and American Girl charged that Equity had unfairly influenced the voting.

[kestrel91316]

2. The ONLY way I would be ok with this is if Mattel gave a HEFTY donation

to homeless shelters for every doll sold, making it essentially nonprofit.

[ThePantaloon.com]

4. I'm pretty sure they're not doing that

[kestrel91316]

17. Well then, it's NOT OK. Maybe an AIDS doll is next? Complete with

little Kaposi's sarcoma lesions and a buffalo hump from protease inhibitors???

[ThePantaloon.com]

18. That was funny

[kestrel91316]

19. How about a diabetic doll without medical insurance? It can be blind and in a

wheelchair with one leg amputated.

[Quantess]

5. But I'm sure the white homeless dolls outsell the black, asian, and hispanic-looking homeless dolls.

Anyway, it is ironically offensive to charge $95 for the doll, with nothing going to a good cause.

[peacebird]

6. Amazing. It's true - here's a link to American Girls Gewn doll

http://store.americangirl.com/agshop/EndecaForwardServlet?dest=%2Fagshop%2Fhtml%2FProductPage.jsf%2FitemId%2F142095&event=topRecordsReport&sku=F9311#moreInfo

[timeforpeace]

8. Just coincidence that they introduced this during the Obama Administration?

[Mass]

9. I had to check, because I thought it was a sick joke.\nt

[ThePantaloon.com]

10. drunk father and abusive mother not included

[Johonny]

11. your trying to give parents and aid to teach about being homeless

Is your target audience the poor or the wealthy and the upper middle class? As a teaching aid for a liberal family in the upper tax ranges I can see the value of such a toy. Of course the market isn't for the already homeless. If your homeless you don't need a toy to teach you about the life of those in need. If it teaches one kid to have some empathy for those not of there economic class then it's ok. And I see girls of all ethnic types going into the American Girl store at The Grove. So I'm not sure why people might assume only white dolls are purchased?

[Overseas]

12. I found it kind of grotesque too. //nt

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

13. American Girl dolls are made in China

I have nothing against the Chinese worker but it's funny that Mattel can't see fit to give jobs to American workers to manufacture this doll. Maybe some of those would-be American factory workers are jobless and homeless in this bad economy.

[saracat]

14. OMG. And the twits are complaining that the homeless doll doesn't

come with much so they had to buy outfits! But some praise the fashionableness of the dolls dress and shoes! And compassionate souls that they are they express contempt for the controversy and say there is no issue this is just a "pretty doll". Oh, and it is suggested you buy a brush for the doll for an additional $7!

No wonder poverty isn't an issue anyone really cares about.And folks wonder why I am cynical. LOL!

[asdjrocky]

15. We're doomed.

We are fucking doomed.

[defendandprotect]

16. Homeless? We'll exploit you -- !!!

[rucky]

20. I just don't have it in me to get upset about this.

If it makes kids aware of the less fortunate, then i don't see what the big deal is.

[Raine]

24. Agree nt

[Thickasabrick]

21. I think it's good for rich little white kids to know that homeless kids

exist. This stupid doll might be an opportunity for them to learn something. JMHO

[a la izquierda]

22. disgusting

i don't think that children should be ignorant of the very real and serious plight of homeless people. however, $95 for a flippin' doll, in light of the serious economic problems this nation faces strikes me as dumb. (i'm not in a verbose mood this evening)

[Berry Cool]

23. The doll is damn expensive

but the idea is that she's the friend of a girl who stands up to bullies and makes friends with girls that the bullies scorn. Not a bad lesson to learn.

[dflprincess]

25. Seeing as Mattel moved the manufacture of the dolls to China, maybe it can be explained in Gwen's

story that her mother lost her job when the her employer moved its manufacturing "off shore".

[Jennicut]

26. My girls are not getting a 95$ doll, that is for sure. Pathetic. I would give my 95$ to the real

homeless.