New American Girl homeless doll

[MontrealMum]

Anyone hear about this? Article Here (http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/wee-windy-city/2009/09/the-american-girl-empire-goes-too-far-with-its-homeless-doll.html) Not quite sure what I think, especially since we're not into this brand at all anyways and with a boy I don't expect to be. But I think I find it mildly disturbing.

[citymama]

Good grief. I don't see how this teaches kids sensitivity to less-advantaged people; rather, it seems to exploit the homeless to sell dolls for $95. Now if they were donating 100% of the proceeds to homeless children's shelters, that would be another story.

[momof2girls]

Hmmm...I think I need more info on this doll before I can really comment. However, most historical dolls that have had to deal with adversity and hard times. I'm guessing the doll's backstory will clear it all up.

Didn't see the link at first! Yes, bad idea!!

[BabyMine]

It's done in poor taste. I would hope that a child wouldn't need a doll to be able to learn about homeless children. Take that money and buy food for a shelter to feed the actual homeless and teach your child the gift of giving.

[Ceepa]

Article linked from the first:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Weekend/homeless-american-girl-doll-sparks-controversy/story?id=8676579

In a storybook that details the doll's life, Gwen's mother revealed, "I woke up one morning to learn that my husband had left us, and my daughter and I were evicted -- truly homeless. I always thought homelessness happened to other people. Never to me."

Ms. Thompson goes on to describe their destitute lifestyle, "At first, my daughter and I slept in our car. I'd park so that we'd wake up near a wayside rest area or restaurant - somewhere where we could use the sink for washing up - and then I'd go to work and pretend that life was just as it had always been."


ETA: Gwen is the doll's name.

[AnnieW625]

HUH?! Homelessness is sad and I don't think it should be exploited. This is from someone who just today saw a homeless woman sitting on the side of a busy freeway this morning beating herself up (she was definitely on drugs, but still soo sad). My darn cell phone was dead otherwise I would've called 911. I think the doll should be pulled. Adversity has always been addressed in the books and I have always admired that about the line. Samantha, and Felicity were the rich girls, Molly was working class, Kirsten, and Josefina were immigrants, and Addie's parents or family members were slaves. My sister had Kirsten, and Josefina. I honestly believe that the line jumped the shark a long time ago, however when we do have another baby I would like to get DD a Bitty Baby because I have always loved them, but this just too much.

It looks official per CBS:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/26/earlyshow/saturday/main5343132.shtml

[kayte]

Take that money and buy food for a shelter to feed the actual homeless and teach your child the gift of giving.

:yeahthat:

Yuck. I think that's deplorable.

[MontrealMum]

It's done in poor taste. I would hope that a child wouldn't need a doll to be able to learn about homeless children. Take that money and buy food for a shelter to feed the actual homeless and teach your child the gift of giving.

That was my first reaction too. I am also still reeling from the price tag, but I guess that's par for the course with this brand? It'd be nice if this doll had been launched with the announcement that they were going to donate a portion of those profits to helping the homeless, otherwise, I don't really get it.

[brittone2]

HUH?! Homelessness is sad and I don't think it should be exploited. This is from someone who just today saw a homeless woman sitting on the side of a busy freeway this morning beating herself up (she was definitely on drugs, but still soo sad). My darn cell phone was dead otherwise I would've called 911.


Are you sure she was on drugs vs. suffering from mental illness?

[kayte]

What I find interesting if their goal is to raise awareness why is her homelessness not mentioned at all on the AMG store website?

Here's a link...

http://tinyurl.com/y8s8zs5

Product Description
Like the Chrissa® doll, Gwen arrives in an outfit that’s perfect for playtime:
A white eyelet lace dress with embroidered accents
A pink headband that doubles as a belt
Pink underwear
Braided sandals to match
The Gwen doll is 18 inches tall with a soft cloth body, with brown eyes and long, blond hair. Her movable head and limbs are made of smooth vinyl. The Friends paperback book is filled with quizzes, crafts, true friendship stories, and thoughtful advice for girls.

As opposed ti Kit's page which reads

As a girl growing up during the Great Depression, Kit sees her dad lose his business overnight. To help save their home, Kit becomes resourceful. With Ruthie by her side, Kit also learns to treasure what money can’t buy—friends and family.

[kijip]

I am not ready to write it off completely as exploitative. As I understand it Gwen is friends with Chrissa and the anti-bullying story line comes up because they are at school together and learn to be friends, even though Gwen is different because she is poor and Chrissa is different because she is new.

The AG stories tend to be interesting on the whole. I have not read this one, but I will be interested in checking it out. I would be as inclined to buy this doll as any other AG doll.

There are some things I don't like about it and certainly a doll would not be the main way I teach my children about compassion, sharing, differences and kindness. I am not sure why selling a $95 doll about a rich Victorian girl is more acceptable than a $95 doll who is poor and 21st century? Did Samantha exploit rich Victorians?

[bigpassport]

1. I think its in poor taste.
2. I hope they send profits to help homeless people.
3. Why is she wearing a crisp white dress? How does that represent homelessness? (She doesn't need to be caked in dirt, but a pretty white sundress isn't going to help a little girl's understanding of being homeless)

[Globetrotter]

I find it ironic because it costs $95, but is this different from Addy (who was a slave) or the depression era doll? All went through adversity and teach us history lessons. Do we need a doll to learn this? Of course not. Just thinking out loud..

[Melaine]

I am not ready to write it off completely as exploitative. As I understand it Gwen is friends with Chrissa and the anti-bullying story line comes up because they are at school together and learn to be friends, even though Gwen is different because she is poor and Chrissa is different because she is new.

The AG stories tend to be interesting on the whole. I have not read this one, but I will be interested in checking it out. I would be as inclined to buy this doll as any other AG doll.

There are some things I don't like about it and certainly a doll would not be the main way I teach my children about compassion, sharing, differences and kindness. I am not sure why selling a $95 doll about a rich Victorian girl is more acceptable than a $95 doll who is poor and 21st century? Did Samantha exploit rich Victorians?

:yeahthat: Bearing in mind that I have NOT read the Chrissa book, my thought is the idea of the story is great. The main character is friends with a little girl who happens to be homeless. AG makes the main character's friend into a doll, just as they do for MANY of the books, which is consistent. What if a little girl read the books and thought, I really like this character but there is no doll to go along with her. Maybe the little girl would think, "I guess she isn't important because she is homeless"? All that to say, the brand is expensive, yes, but I don't think what I have seen of this issue is offensive.

[AnnieW625]

Are you sure she was on drugs vs. suffering from mental illness?

oh probably could've been mental illness too, but she was definitely wigging out on something, and looked homeless. There is a really large homeless mentally ill population where I live too so it's not too out of the norm to see homeless mental ill people walking around. It was just scary because she was sitting on the side of the freeway.

And I don't think Samantha exploited rich Victorians, she was just a sign of her times. It's been probably 20 years since I read the first books. So yeah a homeless girl now or in the past could've been a sign of the times too (just look at Jewel she lived in her van), but it just kind of bothers me that a doll would have be made for that too, but that's just me.

[katydid1971]

:yeahthat: Bearing in mind that I have NOT read the Chrissa book, my thought is the idea of the story is great. The main character is friends with a little girl who happens to be homeless. AG makes the main character's friend into a doll, just as they do for MANY of the books, which is consistent. What if a little girl read the books and thought, I really like this character but there is no doll to go along with her. Maybe the little girl would think, "I guess she isn't important because she is homeless"? All that to say, the brand is expensive, yes, but I don't think what I have seen of this issue is offensive.

That's my thinking too.

[hbridge]

Having seen the Chrissa movie and read the book, it makes sense. Gwen is a prominant part of the story and she is bullied terribly because she lives in a homeless shelter. It's actually a great story. I'm not sure they should market her as "the homeless girl", but it would be great if the donated part of the profits from the sales to homeless shelters...

[hollybloom24]

Having worked with the homeless I don't mind the concept of this doll (I have not read anything about her yet) at all. I'm not sure it exploits the homeless. My guess is the concept is to teach about this population of people. I think everything can be a learning opportunity. I'd probably be more inclined to buy books about this character rather than a $95 doll though, but that's me.

I agree, homelessness is sad, but it is something I try and teach my own childen about, in terms of gratitude for what they have, and that they should try to help people when they have the opportunity. If someone wants to do this using a doll, if they can afford it (I can't) why not?

[egoldber]

Well, it wasn't that recent. Gwen is part of the Chrissa story line. Chrissa is the 2009 doll of the year and was released in January. (They do a different contemporary doll every year with a different storyline/theme, usually with a lesson of some sort.)

The Chrissa movie and book are very well done IMO. There was talk (here) when the doll and movie were first released about it being even a little intense for some kids because of the realistic way in which it portrayed the harshness of bullying.

[MMEand1]

I don't follow the American Girl thing at all, but my thought is this:

If you buy the doll, then she won't be homeless anymore, right? :)