A while back, I wrote a column, reflecting negatively, on the American Girl phenomenon. It was written after a trip to Chicago in which we visited both (and perhaps even on the same day), the American Girl Place and the national Shrine of St. Therese. American Girl had been a welcome phenomenon in our house - I liked the stories (Katie read them all, of course, and received a small version of Molly, the 1930's girl, as a gift) for their resourceful female characters and historical settings.
But beyond those humble beginnings...I was not impressed. The American Girl Place is simply one more Spending Mecca, and the very pricey accoutrements of Molly, Katrina, etc., are just the beginning. Taking up far more space were the other dolls, for which you could specify hair color and complexion, buy all different sorts of (pricey) outfits, and for whom you could make appointments to get their hair styled. Not to speak of the cafe, the play and the rooms full of other items, including matching (pricey) outfits for you and your dolls.
So yeah, it's a store, and stores sell stuff, but the sight of girls and mothers walking out of there with big shopping bags filled with hundreds of dollars of stuff for dolls was distressing, if not surprising. American Girls = good stories and nice, historically interesting collectible dolls, I suppose. But when American Girls = feeding materialism and consumerism, I get off the train. And I couldn't help but compare and contrast St. Therese and the American Girls.
Oh, I took heat for that piece, I tell you. Perhaps I didn't express myself clearly. Or perhaps people didn't read it carefully, and missed my praise of the initial American Girl spirit. But I was gratified, at least, by one note that informed me that a short time ago, American Girl had been purchased by Mattel, and that correspondent had detected a decided shift in emphasis and tone in the brand since then.
Can I say...I told...
No, I won't. Since that wasn't even in my mind when I wrote that original piece.
But...
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