Last night, my aunt gave Stella one of the greatest gifts ever for a little girl: a Samantha American Girl doll! She too young to care about it yet, but if she's anything like I was as a child, she will love it in about seven more years! My aunt had been given the doll for free by a young woman who had "never played with it at all" and didn't want it anymore. Whaaaat?! Better yet, I still have my Felicity doll from childhood - though she is certainly not as pristine as this new one - so now Stella will have both (or, perhaps, her and a future sister will each have one). I'm pretty excited about it.
As someone who grew up poring over each American Girl catalog that came in the mail, reading the books, and memorizing each doll's details...imagine my shock and horror when I discovered that Felicity and Samantha don't even exist anymore. In official AG lingo, they've been "archived." Ugh. As everyone knows, American Girl dolls are their many furnishings, outfits, and accessories are absolutely not cheap. It's possible that - despite Stella's future inevitable begging - I may have decided not to invest further in Samantha or Felicity's "collections." But I hate to know that they aren't even available anymore. That was such a dream of my childhood!
And not only that, but since my own girlhood (in the early 90s), the "message" and focus of the company has really changed. It used to be about getting girls interested in American history. Encouraging them to read the stories, and engage with their heritage! Girls would be able to relate to the doll as someone their own age, and imagine themselves dealing with the challenges of previous times. Reading the stories of the original characters, and gazing longingly at the images of their beautiful accessories taught the eight-year-old me a fair amount about daily life in different periods of our nation's history. And now that I think about it, may well have played a role in sparking my current interest in learning all about "daily life" in earlier time periods, especially the duties and roles of women.
One glance now at the American Girl catalogs or website, and it's clear that the focus and marketing has shifted to their "modern" dolls. The dolls that can dress the exact same as you, and be specially made with your exact hair, skin, and face type. The doll who will be your best friend/identical twin. You can braid each other's hair and have sleepovers!! Instead of reading about Felicity witnessing the stirrings of Revolution in Boston, Kirsten enduring a dangerous wagon trek across the country, or Addie being a slave, you can now read about girls who are just like you, facing the exact same boring modern "problems" as you do everyday.
I see that Mattel bought the Pleasant Co. in 1998. I am sure this is when the original intention of the dolls really started to go by the wayside.
Anyways, here are some articles which discuss this much more eloquently than I can:
Even More Terrible Things are Happening to the American Girl Doll Brand Than You Thought
American Girls Aren't Radical Anymore
When the archived the Kirstin, Samantha and Felicity dolls they did come out with new historical characters. It is a shame that they couldn't keep those dolls in production and add the new characters. I have noticed that it seems like AG has recycled the outfits of some of the archived dolls and changed them up a bit for new characters.
ReplyDeleteOne thing is certain. In the past eight years, the quality of the dolls has declined as the prices have increased. Eight years ago the historical dolls were $87 and now they're up around $110 which is outrageous, but my girls love these dolls so I still buy them as Christmas or birthday gifts.
I was 8 when they came out and I have fond memories of reading the books about Kirsten, Samantha, and Molly -- I think Molly was my favorite.
ReplyDeleteI knew this post was going to make me sad from the title!
ReplyDeleteI know they introduced the "modern" dolls before Mattel bought the company. I owned Kirsten and one of the modern dolls, as well as a Bitty Baby (and I earned the money to buy all of them myself! A little eight-year-old lugging around a wagon full of homebaked cookies), and I know I bought them all before that point. Even the modern doll's clothes have changed, though ... they didn't used to be so trendy. Just classier and nicer.
I am surprised they retired Felicity and Samantha, as those were two of the most popular dolls.
Yeah, I think Kirsten was actually the first to be retired. And I do remember still being in the "American Girl" phase when the modern dolls, bitty babies, etc. first started. But as you say, they were nicer and certainly not the major focus of the company.
DeleteI also used to subscribe to the magazine, come to think of it, which always featured paper dolls of real girls' female ancestors, wearing period clothing. I loved those!
The archiving started with Samantha and was then followed by Kirsten and Felicity. I think it was all a marketing ploy considering they announce that they're archiving the dolls in September to drive sales for Christmas shopping.
DeleteAhem...we had cabbage patch kids ;0)
ReplyDeleteAnyway. I have disliked the AG dolls from the start with Sil because of the creepy "twin" thing and other issues. She has one AG doll (from Grammy - can't stop her from keeping up with the times) and one "fake" AG doll - which Grammy bought before she realized there was a difference (like if you're invited to a party at the AG store you can only bring an authentic AG doll. Gag.
Beyond all that, Sil has LOVED the books and we use them as a starter for discussion of history, issues of the times, etc. They are really great. At least there is that.
I was so, so sad when they retired Samantha! She (along with her books and accessories) is stored in the nursery all ready to go for when Claire is old enough to appreciate her. I am kind of ridiculously excited about that day!
ReplyDeleteSo so sad. I have Samantha and was hoping to supplement my collection a bit for when my daughter is older. You can still buy the stuff on ebay, but we don't actually have the money to just buy stuff like that. Just as well.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure they support Planned Parenthood anyway. I'm not much of a boycotter usually; I am not worried, for example, that Starbucks' support of gay marriage influences their coffee. But this is a company that is structured around offering formation for young girls, even if it is centered around marketing their product. So I am concerned that their values could influence their products to some degree. I'm not sure I would trust their new books.
I still have my Felicity doll from when I was younger too! My parents' had me save up my own money so I could buy it myself and I can not wait to pass it down to a daughter (hopefully, if I ever have one!). I loved the books too and my cousins and I would even get their plays and put on productions back in the day!
ReplyDeleteA good friend of mine has 3 daughters who are into AG and she said that WalMart and Target have outfits & accessories that fit the AG dolls. They are opening an American Girl store in our area and I can't lie... I want to go check it out.
I remember being a five-year old and staring at Samantha longingly in the American Girl catalogue. Her books really taught me so much. When I read about Nellie's account of child labor, that really resonated with me as a kid. I always preferred the historical collection to the modern collection, and I'm sad to see the ways in which the American Girl brand is changing. I can't imagine how having a doll exactly like you is appealing when you can own a doll of a girl like you but from a different time period and basically a different world. Far in the future when I (hopefully) have daughters, I'll be so excited to pass on my American Girl collection and teach them about America during the time of Samantha.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you heard they are bringing Samantha back ;)
ReplyDeleteoh no, I did not! Well, I hope this means the company is recognizing that their best assets are the historical dolls!
DeleteLook into American Heritage Girl dolls for and excellent alternative.
ReplyDeleteMy sister is Catholic and home-schools her 2 kids.
She loves the American Heritage Girls focus and dolls.
Blessings,
Neesie
I home-schooled my 5 kids and we did American Girl Dolls but I didn't let them get into the books too much because they seemed to encourage disobedience....Samantha with sneaking out to see what was a dangerous horse against her Father's rules....It is difficult enough to teach obedience without the little girls in books doing it and it turning out to be what seems like a good thing.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who works with horses know how dangerous they can be, especially the ones who have been abused. We had a horse farm we had our kids working at and we just couldn't let them think they knew better than the adults in their lives how to deal with horses or any dangerous situations.
Blessings,
Neesie