For those of you who haven’t heard of them already, the popular American Girl™ dolls are costumed to represent girls of all walks of life from various periods in American history. The fashion show would have featured girls carrying the dolls and wearing matching outfits.
My wife and daughter have happily collected American Girl™ dolls, along with the books and other items marketed with the dolls, though we are now boycotting the company (owned by Mattel, Inc.).
It’s a shame, because I thought the dolls’ designers tapped in to a neglected market, allowing doll collecting to become a lesson in American history. I actually picked up one of their books and found it surprisingly well-written. I had expected pure drek, but it was not too far off from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House™ books.
You might figure that the American Girl™ folks would know a good thing when they had it, and would give anything that might bring unnecessary controversy to their enterprise a wide berth. This is especially true considering that collectors of a doll line called American Girl™ might tend to run to the conservative side.
But American Girl™ recently decided to endorse a charity called Girls, Inc., and there the controversy began. They actually offered in their catalog some of those rubber bracelets you see so much nowadays, with proceeds going to Girls, Inc.
The charity itself is actually not mentioned until the very last paragraph of the MSNBC piece, and is described in glowing terms that sound as if they might have been lifted from the group’s promotional material:
"Girls Inc. offers a wide range of programs and resources to help
educate and encourage girls in everything from science to health. That
includes information about abortion and contraception along with sexual
abstinence. The organization also affirms lesbian sexual orientation.".
The folks at American Girl™ just don’t see what all the stink is about, and are befuddled that anyone might be upset at their innocent support of a charity that, after all, is just trying to help girls.
St. Lukes’ pastor, Fr. Frank Malloy, summed up the reason for dropping the fashion show:
"It’s a bargain we’ll just have to pass up. The cost is too high. Our integrity isn’t for sale."
I voted in the online poll, but support for the school predictably lagged behind on the site. You can read the story and vote in the poll HERE.
