The widely popular American Girl doll series just added a new doll, Gwen Thompson, who is harboring a secret. She's homeless. Her dad left the family and she and her mom live in a car.
Controversy has sparked with the release of this new doll, as some expert moms say the doll is showing impressionable young girls, many as young as four, that daddies might leave, moms might hit hard times and that women are helpless without daddy . Others will say the doll teaches girls a reality, one they might be forced to deal with one day (unlikely not, the doll costs $95 - well out of a near homeless girl's price range).
Whether the doll's controversial message reaches young minds is up to the moms who shell out big bucks to buy them for their daughters. My daughter won't be meeting Gwen until she's old enough to buy one for herself. Is American Girl losing its innocence already? Kinda makes the chesty Barbie and the newly made over Dora dolls look more palatable...
Comments
Wow! What a strange and intriguing bit of info! What could be next? Mama's-Addicted-to-Crack-and-had-a-Crack-Baby doll? Guess we will simply have to wait and see!
What happened to teaching girls about history?
It's too bad American Girl and Mattel won't donate part of the millions they make to homeless families.
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