Flap Over Homeless American Girl Doll

[Louisiana1976]

<snip>

(CBS) "I think (a 'homeless' doll is) a good idea," one mother shopping in an American Girl store told CBS News Correspondent Hattie Kauffman. "It kind of shows awareness to what's going on in the world."

"I think it's really a good idea, because homelessness affects everybody, at different economic levels," Herb Smith, president of the Los Angeles Mission, remarked to Kauffman. "I actually think it's a good teaching tool."

Not so fast, say some homeless advocates, such as one who observed to Kauffman that she finds "the whole concept to be extremely disturbing. It's not a doll I would ever buy for a child."

There are between 7,000 and 10,000 homeless children in L.A. alone, Kauffman notes, and it's doubtful many, if any, could afford Gwen's $95 price tag.

One homeless woman in a shelter Kauffman visited said Gwen touched her heart when she saw the doll in its box.

The women praised the doll, Kauffman reports, until they learned Gwen isn't a fundraising device for the homeless.

"I don't even see why you would make a homeless doll, anyway," one woman said to Kauffman, unless it was being used to raise money to help charities aiding the homeless.

<snip>

more...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/26/earlyshow/saturday/main5343132.shtml?tag=cbsnewsLeadStoriesAreaMain;cbsnewsLeadStoriesHeadlines

[Chemisse]

1. That is a little wierd.

A young girl might find that disturbing. Why is she homeless? Could I become homeless? How does it happen? Do your parents just leave you somewhere?

Awareness is good for children, but I think within the framework of helping others. So they see there is a problem which arouses their compassion, and at the same time they help make solve the problem (sending old toys to children in South America, donating food to the local pantry, that kind of thing).

[Berry Cool]

17. It IS within the framework of helping others.

The doll who represents a homeless girl is presented as a school friend of this year's "doll of the year." (Every year they make a limited-edition doll available only that year, and the homeless doll is a friend of the 2009 doll.) The theme behind the 2009 doll is that she is a confronter of school bullies (known as the "Mean Bees") who befriends people whom the popular social queens reject.

[pnwmom]

21. Most of our children go to public school with homeless children.

We can't protect them from the reality.

[KittyWampus]

27. there was a thread very recently at the huge rise in kids going to school this year being homeless.u

[Walk away]

2. Who at American Girl dropped that ball?

At least some of the profits from the doll should go to a children's charity. It's not too late guys, set something up right away and do the decent thing, you will only benefit from it.

[uppityperson]

3. If I could recommend a reply today, it would be yours

[dflprincess]

8. I believe Mattel bought American Girl a few years ago

and, ironically (or maybe not, all things considered), the American Girl dolls and their accessories are now made in China.

[Berry Cool]

13. I agree--it would make sense to donate at least a portion of the profits.

Lots of sense.

[Treo]

18. I'm thinkin'

Come on AG it really wouldn't kill you to donate all the proceeds of this to a homeless charity

[pnwmom]

22. American Girl supports a charity called Home Aid, that builds transitional

housing for the homeless.

http://www.pardeehomes.com/about/press/corporate/article/68/

SNIP

Stacey Guttman, general manager of American Girl Place® Los Angeles said American Girl’s connection with HomeAid furthers her company’s long-standing commitment to children’s charities nationwide. “HomeAid and the building industry are dedicated to making a real difference in the lives of families and children, which perfectly complements our mission at American Girl,” she said. “Joining with a company like Pardee Homes in this worthy cause is truly meaningful, and we are especially pleased to showcase Kit’s playhouse at The Grove, home to an American Girl flagship store.”

A leading national non-profit provider of housing for today’s homeless, HomeAid builds and renovates transitional housing for families and individuals who have been rendered temporarily homes due to job loss, domestic violence, medical crisis or some other circumstance beyond their control. HomeAid works with the nation’s top builders, who donate in-kind labor, materials and services; and partners with homeless service providers that secure housing, support and skills to temporarily homeless families and individuals, helping them regain self-sufficiency. To learn more about HomeAid, visit www.homeaid.org.

SNIP

[Ian David]

4. Let's ban ALL likenesses of homeless people, starting with Jesus!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_92lL9MkYUVQ/SS1hgFna3VI/AAAAAAAAAPE/FaSjN2NMMho/s320/homeless+Jesus.jpg

[vadawg]

5. dude was homeless through choice it seems, theres a lot of people who dont want a fixed abode

and this dude jesus seems like one of them...

[Ian David]

7. Jesus was homeless because voices in his head told him to be.

Some things we still haven't managed to fix.

[vadawg]

10. nah the dude was homeless due to back alimony he owed and trying to keep ahead of the CSA

plus his old man told him to keep moving...

[Walk away]

16. Mary Magdalene is looking for child support and he's hiding out at...

his mother's.

[Shell Beau]

6. A $100 homeless doll?

I have a hard time thinking that doll will fly off the shelves. I could get behind it though if the money from the doll went to homeless shelters, etc.

[Ian David]

9. And NONE of that money goes to help the homeless.

Although American Girl used to be involved in donating to good, feminist and woman's rights causes, until the chrisTo-fascists killed that a few years ago.

[Shell Beau]

15. How can you have a "homeless doll" that doesn't help the homeless?

That is just shitty.

[Ian David]

19. Agreed.

Like having a breast cancer doll that doesn't help people with breast cancer.

[Berry Cool]

26. Have you seen what breast cancer dolls look like?

It's laughable. They're all glamorous, beautiful woman dolls or cute, adorable baby dolls dressed in pink. (Yes, believe it or not there is a collectible line of "breast cancer baby dolls"!) If they ever made a doll that looked like a real person with breast cancer, rather than a glamourous attendee of a charity ball or a cute little baby, it would never sell!

[pnwmom]

23. According to their website, American girl continues to be involved in charitable

causes.

http://www.americangirl.com/corp/corporate.php?section=about&id=5


American Girl maintains a long-standing commitment to children’s charities nationwide, including support for education, literacy, environmental awareness, multicultural appreciation, and the fine arts. We’ve helped generate millions of dollars for programs designed to benefit children through innovative partnerships.

SNIP

For example, they support a charity called Home Aid, that builds transitional housing for the homeless.


housing for the homeless.

http://www.pardeehomes.com/about/press/corporate/articl... /

SNIP

Stacey Guttman, general manager of American Girl Place® Los Angeles said American Girl’s connection with HomeAid furthers her company’s long-standing commitment to children’s charities nationwide. “HomeAid and the building industry are dedicated to making a real difference in the lives of families and children, which perfectly complements our mission at American Girl,” she said. “Joining with a company like Pardee Homes in this worthy cause is truly meaningful, and we are especially pleased to showcase Kit’s playhouse at The Grove, home to an American Girl flagship store.”

A leading national non-profit provider of housing for today’s homeless, HomeAid builds and renovates transitional housing for families and individuals who have been rendered temporarily homes due to job loss, domestic violence, medical crisis or some other circumstance beyond their control. HomeAid works with the nation’s top builders, who donate in-kind labor, materials and services; and partners with homeless service providers that secure housing, support and skills to temporarily homeless families and individuals, helping them regain self-sufficiency. To learn more about HomeAid, visit www.homeaid.org .

SNIP

[Walk away]

11. How adorable is that child? I recommend her! n/t

[Shell Beau]

14. I will accept those recomendations!!

And thank you!!!!! :)

[JI7]

12. why do they think only Homeless people should get this doll ?

i would give this doll to kids of parents who are well off.

[pnwmom]

20. I tend to agree with the Salon writer -- the girls who can afford these dolls

might need to hear their message: there ARE real homeless children. And that "being better off doesn't make you better."

By the way, the dolls all come with books, too, which many libraries carry. Many girls read the books who don't buy the dolls.

http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/feature/2009/09/25/homeless_doll/index.html

Make-believe aside, children in this “great country” of ours actually are allowed to sleep in motor vehicles. There are approximately one million homeless children in America right now. Two million whose homes have been foreclosed. Children who are struggling in the school system and quite likely sitting next to your daughter and mine in the lunchroom today.

Peyser’s not far off the mark when she calls the Fifth Avenue American Girl store “a cult” – I’ve been there, and it was like looking into the mouth of hell itself. I will gladly rail all day long about how expensive and impossibly accessory-centric those damn American Girls are, and the built-in smarm of Mattel making money peddling the fantasy of impoverishment. (They couldn’t give a portion of the sales of Gwen products to say, the National Alliance to End Homelessness? Seriously?)

But I’m not sure that giving girls the option of playing with characters who aren’t doe-eyed princesses is such a terrible thing. The American Girl dolls aren’t aimed at the Gwens of the world -- they’re aimed at the more prosperous kids whose parents can afford them. Many of them will see Gwen not as a homeless kid and not as a tool of the feminist liberal agenda but just a pretty doll. Nevertheless, I can hope that a few of those potential queen bees and mean girls are getting the message of “Chrissa Stands Strong” – that being better off doesn’t make you better, period. That poverty doesn’t make you a pariah. That frankly it’s not cool to be a stuck-up bitch. Somewhere in the simplistic storyline and the retail ca-ching of the American Girl of the Year, Gwen and Chrissa are offering the subversive notion that people who are doing okay could maybe try being nice to people who aren’t. Because there are a whole lot of them out there. Maybe it is political indoctrination, but unlike Chrissa’s party table and pet llama, it comes free with purchase.

[pnwmom]

24. Fox News has been leading this "flap." They don't want better off children

to know that there are homeless children among us . . . they think they can keep middle and upper class children from having their little psyches damaged by finding out that some of their classmates are homeless.

[Speck Tater]

25. I'm waiting to see "Homeless Barbie" complete with shopping cart and cardboard box bedroom. nt

[Brickbat]

28. Not surprised about American Girl. American Girl Place is unfriendly to unions. For $90, the doll

is made in China. Crap all around, IMO.