Do Blondes Come First at American Girl?
March 18, 2007
Anyone who knows a girl under between the ages of 7 and 13 has heard of American Girl dolls. I had the Samantha doll growing up, and my nine year-old sister Anna has a “Just Like You” doll and many, many clothes and accessories.
I was looking through the catalogue today for a gift for Anna, when I discovered something troublesome. The newest doll in the “Just Like You” series has, “light skin, layered blond hair, blue eyes, and earrings.” She is clearly much prettier than any of the other dolls in the collection.
There would be nothing wrong with any of this if American Girl also offered dolls with medium and dark skin, layered hair and earrings. But they don’t. The only doll who is clearly beautiful by today’s standards looks nothing like me. And yet, if I were Anna’s age, this is the doll I would want.
What kind of message does this send to girls? Is it, “blondes have more fun?” Or maybe, “you have to be light-skinned to dress fashionably or wear your hair with layers?”
I’m sure that’s not the goal behind this doll. And I’m sure that the folks at American Girl plan to eventually roll out other versions of the doll with other hair and skin tones. But by rolling out a blonde version of the doll first, they are still sending the message that blonde girls come first.
I agree, they totally screwed up. She should have green eyes. http://teresacentric.com/wp-images/smilies/icon_wink.gif
Oh for the love of….. It’s a kids’ toy. They don’t read into the underlying meanings of why American Girl put out a blonde doll first. They just play with the damn things. Stop being so defensive about the hair color God gave you.
Besides, not everyone prefers blondes. I for one do not and I didn’t even realize it until we were doing a silly top ten list at work and someone mentioned that I had listed all brunettes in mine. Go figure, I married one too.
mm, actually I think what they probably did, seeing as how they are a huge company and would not bother with this new doll unless they thought it would help them to make money, was look at market data on doll sales. blonde dolls probably sell better than brunette or redhead dolls. pretty girly dolls probably sell demonstrably better than “ordinary” or “plain” looking dolls. based on such data they probably crafted a doll that they predict will sell. then, because this is the doll available it DOES sell, and indoctrinates new consumers, i mean kids, into the mindset that blonde=pretty=feminine.
it’s an evil circle of sameness but makes a lot of sense. i personally always like miko the hawaiian barbie because she looked most like me
But there are lots of other dolls in their lineup that have darker skin and different hair types. Why couldn’t they have released a brunette doll with layers and earrings at the same time they released the blonde? That way, brunette girls who are into being fashionable won’t feel so compelled to settle for the blonde doll when they really want a doll that does look just like them.
Please read this about American Girl dolls from Consumerist.com. You will be shocked!
http://consumerist.com/consumer/american-girl/american-girl-place-mocks-6-year+old-for-having-a-doll-from-target-refuses-to-style-the-dolls-hair-246666.php
They only release 2 JLY dolls at once and they did release a VERY PRETTY girl with medium skin along with this one. Also, she is NOT the prettiest doll, despite your opinion. MANY girls still like the non-layered hair dolls such as JLY #22 (blond hair, blue eyes) and #23 (brown hair, blue eyes). You are reading way too much into this.
For the post about the article: AG won’t style another doll’s hair because of what it is made out of - AG is very high quality hair and you can’t do so much with other kinds of doll hair. THe mocking was from the employee, not AG headquarters, and I’m sure they were p!ssed about their employee doing it. She may not even have a job there now! And FYI, that doll came out in 2006, you’re a little late posting.
I don’t think she is prettier than the other dolls, and they have recently made lots of dolls that aren’t blonde in the JLY line. I agree with Amber. I think the girl they released with her was just as pretty. And what’s wrong with them making blonde dolls? I’m blonde and people always seem to have something against me for it.
American girl makes many dolls that aren’t blonde, and why is it such a big deal that they make the first doll with earrings and layered hair be blonde?
As the mother of two beautiful blond haired (one very lightly blond like the doll), blue eyed little girls, I must confess that this is the doll I would buy for them. After all, it is the one that looks most like them. I don’t like the earrings though.
I see nothing wrong with american girl releasing a blonde doll with layered hair & earrings first. They released a very pretty girl with medium skin along with her.
If American girl had released that girl with, say, brown hair, some people who aren’t brunettes would protest.