Aw man. Poor little thing. I remember how humiliating it was to have knock-off Barbies. And a real Barbie is what...like ten bucks? There's no way in HELL my parents ever would have shelled out $100 for a doll.

I hope someone shows up there with a Real Doll (nsfw).

I'm having a hard time getting upset by this. It's American Girl Place. I wouldn't walk into an Apple Store with my PC laptop and expect to be able to take part in their workshops, regardless of my money. Why does this have traction? They are promoting a lifestyle just like Apple does. Am I being an insensitive prick about this?

Did you read the part of a story where a grown person tells a 6 year old child her doll isn't good enough to have hair done? And then the little girl cries and cries and nobody does anything about it? And it's so odd, too- they're making $20 a doll, why turn any doll away? Hell, if I were boss, I'd say, we'll do any dolls, even bald ones! Tape a bow on the doll's head! Just take that money money!

Why does this have traction? They are promoting a lifestyle just like Apple does. Am I being an insensitive prick about this?

I thinks it's because it's a little girl (plus some of the snobbish comments made).

Imagine a 6-year-old tried to take her beat up little PC to the apple store and everyone there snobbishly turned up their nose and said "I bet she can't even afford an Apple."

The cynical Mefite in me wonders how much of the story is true, and is also kind of annoyed by the Target mention in the story.

There's having policy and then there's showing a modicum of sensitivity to a 6 year old girl. Both the employee and the other bitches of customers. I believe one of the commenters in the linked article had a right: a load of cunts.

Flamingbore - I'm not a doll expert, but I bet there are no platform-compatibility problems between the doll and the doll-hair-styling equipment.

This isn't an issue I'd bother to get very wound up about. I agree that it might very well not be true; it's on a blog, and does indeed have a bit of the smack of viral marketing about it. But if true, it would be an indicator of how fast and hard brand consciousness and intellectual-property fetishism is running away with us.

I haven't felt too good about this company for years, and here's why. One of the museums at which I used to work offered, for many years, a program themed around the American Girl dolls. There was a formal agreement between our museum and Pleasant company, and the company ran similar programs at other museums around the country. We paid a licensing fee for the use of the name and character, and our store carried the books and dolls. The program was extremely popular, and everybody felt good about it. It was a great intergenerational program; kids learned some history, were encouraged to keep reading, learned that museums were fun places that they would enjoy going, and so on.

In 1998, Pleasant Company sold to Mattel, and promptly the license fee shot through the roof (more than four times what it was originally). The museum could no longer afford to run the program, because staffing costs plus license fees added up to more than we could reasonably charge. WE had to drop the program, despite its great popularity. WE were unsuccessful in negotiating a new agreement. That museum still gets calls from parents asking for that program, and the staff there now honestly tell them "Pleasant Company made it too expensive for us to run."

So it's too bad. When companies place the bottom line first to the detriment of the consumers who support them, they compromise their goodwill and thus their brand image. American Girl really had a lot to offer when it started - it got girls interested in history, which is why it was started (by a former teacher). If this story is true, it's a sad one that reflects a huge change in the company's core purpose.

If it's not true, Target just started selling a bunch of $29.99 lookalike dolls. Some discount.

I wasn't trying to shout "WE", sorry. I have a little coordination problem with that ol' shift key sometimes.

If I were in the States right now, and I was that way inclined, I'd be outside that store right now with my collection of placard waving dolls and a digital camera.

Placards could read "Equal Rights for all Dolls", or some such thing. The photo montages would sweep the net. John Stewart and/or [adult swim] would pick the story up. Small children would weep. Hipsters would allow one corner of their mouths to smile (just a little bit).

If you're passing Manhattan, I double dare you to do this.

On preview: I bet there are no platform-compatibility problems between the doll and the doll-hair-styling equipment. That's the funniest thing I've heard all day. Now I can go home a happy man.

psst. gaspode said 'modicum! '

Word of the Day!!!@!@!

We've been hearing that kind of shite for years here in Chicago (home of the first ADP).

The original menu at the place had literally no meatless options. Even the salads and mac'n'cheese had meat in them. (They've changed that, apparently.)

Er, AGP.

I love the protest idea.

What assholes.

Their business is to sell and "service" their own dolls. Not those of another company. The "stylist" was a douche, but she told it straight - it wasn't a AGP doll.

But then again, I don't understand why anyone would buy their child an AGP doll. The company has been awash in bad juju for years. Just icky.

I'll accept the insensitive prick award on this. I just don't get it.

I don't think you are an insensitive prick - you're just being incredibly pragmatic. I'm sorry I don't know your gender but maybe it's just one of those things girls can really relate to...

I'm more upset at the idea of this bitchy girl destroying a bit of innocence the blissful ignorance of a six year old. Now this six year old has experienced her first taste of materialism and shame that comes with not having something "worthy" and being called out on it in front of her friends.

I think that alone makes them assholes. Even if it is policy.

Poor kid. That kind of experience can shape a child's attitudes for life.

I can understand why the stylist wouldn't want to work on a doll that she wasn't trained to work with. If she fucked something up because the 'fake' doll's hair or body didn't react the way she expected, it certainly wouldn't be the mother getting a lawsuit. Plus this whole account smacks of someone paraphrasing what people really said.

This is the kind of thing that makes me continue to be glad that my nieces live in the middle of nowhere and don't consume mass media.

≡ Click to see image ≡

^100% genuine american girl™ doll btw

Lola_G, I'll accept pragmatic too. Though, I'm a girl. While I don't take offense to the gender stereotyping, I don't think that's valid, either, in this case.

Poor kid. That kind of experience can shape a child's attitudes for life.

Fast forward fifteen years, when the revolution is in full flower, this little girl, now a towering figure of righteous womanhood leading a cadre of citizen heroes in putting a mall to the torch; behind them is a trail of store managers and doll stylists hanging from streetlamps...